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Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by karl_gluck on Thursday March 12, 2015 @01:31PM (#9192344)
Wow, Godwin's law struck hard and fast. Was that reference really necessary?
Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by Zikes on Thursday March 12, 2015 @01:39PM (#9192400)
Can't a person make a point that just happens to involve Nazis without someone invoking "Godwin's Law"?

It's like just because someone slapped a label on a thing we're not allowed to do the thing anymore. We need an "Anti-Godwin's Law" that states no mention of Nazis or Hitler can be made on the internet without someone inevitably invoking Godwin's Law.

Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by bduerst on Thursday March 12, 2015 @02:54PM (#9192944)
Zike's Law: Whenever Nazi's are mentioned on the internet, someone inevitably mentions Godwin's Law.
Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by kurotetsuka on Thursday March 12, 2015 @07:36PM (#9194757)
Is there a law for mentioning Zike's law? (kinda serious)
Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by spinlock on Thursday March 12, 2015 @08:13PM (#9194913)
I believe that's Kurotetsuka's law.
Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by probablyfiction on Thursday March 12, 2015 @03:31PM (#9193171)
Apparently we've reached peak Godwin, everyone. Knock it off.
Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by forgottenpass on Thursday March 12, 2015 @01:52PM (#9192498)
Godwin's law is rubbish. The Nazis are a strongly and consistently disavowed extreme group. They're a perfect tool when you need to cut across cultures and remove any chance of ambiguity. Their actions so despicable that comparing X performing Y1 to the Nazis performing Y2 is a good tool for reasoning about Y itself and the difference between Y1 and Y2.
Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by LeonRobrotsky on Thursday March 12, 2015 @02:18PM (#9192663)
Nazis had state sponsored scientific research and a national healthcare system (with certain, obvious exclusions).

It just seems nonsensically reductive to go 'the nazis did it! therefore its bad!'

Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by true_religion on Thursday March 12, 2015 @05:27PM (#9194049)
I agree, however that's not what this thread is about.

The first poster essentially said "this is so normal, even Nazis do it".

We consider Nazis to be abnormal, so if a behavior is common many groups inclusive of Nazis it can be used to imply that the behavior is something inherent to human beings or human governments or human societies.

Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by dhimes on Thursday March 12, 2015 @03:37PM (#9193225)
That's why Godwin's law is pretty much not rubbish. Compare to, say, Himes' law:

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Corvairs approaches 1"

This law, as best as I can determine, is rubbish.

Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by ilyanep on Thursday March 12, 2015 @06:54PM (#9194535)
I mean, have you read Unsafe at Any Speed? :P
Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by lamuerteflaca on Thursday March 12, 2015 @01:59PM (#9192536)
And a new law is born: La muerte Flacas' law: Try to use a valid NAZI reference and a clueless bastard will mention Godwin's Law. The Laziest form of counter argument.
Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by Retra on Thursday March 12, 2015 @02:19PM (#9192671)
"[Godwin's law is] an endlessly tiresome way of feigning moral indignation" -- Kevin Drum
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Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by Retra on Thursday March 12, 2015 @02:41PM (#9192838)
How could you reasonably expect me to anticipate your irritability? You've irritated me by failing to see obvious moral indignation, but I wouldn't bother to complain about it. (I'll complain about pettiness, though.)

As it turns out, the person I quoted said exactly what I wanted to say. It doesn't need elaboration.

>It's a complaint at people being lazy in making arguments.

Godwin's law is a very lazy way to make that argument, I would expect.

Re:My Roommate, the Darknet Drug Lord by cgag on Thursday March 12, 2015 @03:51PM (#9193337)
Pointless thought-terminating cliches brought in hard and fast, was invoking that "law" really necessary?