Godwin's Law
(Mike Godwin)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~
A Brief Course in Logic
Without trying to go into teaching everyone here actual Logic, I'm going to explain one of the more newly developed fallacies we use in our social environment. When I say fallacies I mean a tactic or attack itself that is used to discredit someone, but that tactic/attack really has no merit since the attack was weak to the connection of the fallacy or had no connection at all.
We call these fallacies of Irrelevant Conclusion and which commonly are the following:
~~
Ad hominem:
Meaning to attack an aspect of someone, thus completely discrediting them all together.
Example: "You can't believe Jack when he says there is a God because he doesn't even have a job."
```````````
Ad populum:
Meaning to attack the fact that they or their ideas aren't mainstream so no matter what they and their argument is discredited.
Example: Since 88% of the people polled believed in UFOs, they must exist.
```````````
Ad baculum:
Meaning to use force itself as a reason to discredit someone.
Example: "Everybody knows that communism is bad. Senator Joseph McCarthy is hunting communists down. If I dissented to his policy, I'd be supporting the communism, and therefore I'd be anti-American. I am a good American citizen, therefore McCarthy's policy is correct.'"
```````````
Ad metam:
Meaning to use fear/prejudice itself as a reason to discredit someone.
"If the defendant is acquitted, there will be riots. Therefore, he should be found guilty."
Pretty much everyone has used an argument like this in their lives when arguing with someone. It is wrong and a foolish mistake to do so, but we humans aren't perfect so it is forgivable to make a simple occasional mistake. Sometimes you can get away from it if the person you do it to or the audience it is around is/are indeed an idiot(s).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~
Back to Godwin
And so as time has gone on since World War 2, everyone in the world since then has known about Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Pretty much everyone hates this group for what they did and what they are to have been said to do. Since this is so well known people have taken the extreme of comparing people they disagree with, people who they think are bigots, people who they just don't like with the Nazis. We now call this Godwin's Law or sometimes known as the Fallacy of Irrelevant Conclusion term: Ad Hitlerum after the man who first coined the term, Mike Godwin (see above picture).
This illusion that a person is like Hitler or the Nazis group very much all the time is bunk. It demonstrates the person who issues the insult as a fool. Here is an example of one I received in an E-mail directed towards myself:
Date: 8/11/2006 09:46:39
+1000
Senders IP = 213.105.224.18
----------- Contact E-mail True Christian ----------
Name: yup
E-mail: daceh_dace@hotmail.co.uk
Message:
o yeh, and another thing, you are on the same
lines as hitler.
-------------------------------------------------------
Alright so the argument here is I'm just like Hitler. Really? That's amazing! Lets look at some facts...
How is Pastor Jim Like Hitler?
Note: All things done by Nazis I will say are Hitler's doing since he led the Nazis.
The Death
--Hitler murdered approximately 11-12 million people.
--Pastor Jim has murdered 0 people.
The Hate
--Hitler hated Jews with a passion.
--Pastor Jim doesn't hate Jews at all and has many friends who are Jews.
The Power
--Hitler ran an empire, vast military, and many people hailed him.
--Pastor Jim maintains a self run website and has no political power at all.
The Violence
--Hitler started a world war.
--Pastor Jim watches wars on television and continues to read his Bible.
Can you see how absolutely ridiculous the argument that any person you disagree with is like Hitler? Not only is it disrespectful for the victims who suffered and died at Hitler's hands, but it is soundly idiotic. If you compare me to Hitler you are an idiot and a bigot. Oh and guess what, you probably hate the Jews to since the Jews really dislike people who use Hitler and Nazis as an insult because it shows lack of respect to what happened. Just look here.