Godwin's Law

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Listen to this article · (info)

This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2006-07-01, and may not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)

More spoken articles

   

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is a mainstay of Internet culture, an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.^[1]

Godwin's Law does not dispute whether any particular reference or comparison to Hitler or the Nazis might be apt. It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued,^[2] that overuse of the Nazi/Hitler comparison should be avoided, as it robs the valid comparisons of their impact.

Although in one of its early forms Godwin's Law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions,^[3] the law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms, and more recently blog comment threads and wiki talk pages.

Godwin has stated^[1] that he introduced Godwin's law as an experiment in memetics.

[edit] Corollaries and usage

There is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress. This principle is itself frequently referred to as Godwin's Law. Thus Godwin's Law serves to impose an upper bound on thread length in general. It is considered poor form to raise arbitrarily such a comparison with the motive of ending the thread. There is a widely recognized codicil that any such ulterior-motive invocation of Godwin's Law will be unsuccessful (this is sometimes referred to as "Quirk's Exception").^[4]

Godwin's Law does not apply to discussions directly addressing genocide, propaganda or other mainstays of the Nazi regime. Instead, it applies to inappropriate, inordinate, or hyperbolic comparisons of other situations to Hitler or Nazis. However, Godwin's Law can itself also be abused, as a distraction or diversion, to fallaciously miscast an opponent's argument as hyperbole, especially if the comparison the argument made were actually appropriate.

[edit] See also

• Benford's law of controversy
• Reductio ad Hitlerum
• Jargon File
• List of adages named after people
• Internet troll
• Hofstadter's Law
• Association fallacy

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b} Godwin, Mike (2004-10-01). Meme, Counter-meme. Wired Magazine. Retrieved on March 24, 2006.
2. ^ Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the Digital Age
3. ^ Godwin, Mike (1991-08-18). "Re: Nazis (was Re: Card's Article on Homosexuality". rec.arts.sf-lovers. (Google Groups).
4. ^ The Jargon File (4.4.7). Retrieved on January 3, 2007.

[edit] Other references

• Godwin, Mike (2004-10-01). Meme, Counter-meme. Wired Magazine. Retrieved on March 24, 2006.
• Weigel, David (2005-07-14). Hands Off Hitler!: It's time to repeal Godwin's Law. Reason. Retrieved on March 24, 2006.
• Godwin, Mike (1995-01-12). Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies (and Corollaries). EFF "Net Culture - Humor" Archive. Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved on March 24, 2006.
• Sexton, Richard (1989-10-16). "Re: .aquaria (Tropical fish. Good enough for Hitler, why not you ?)". news.groups. (Google Groups).

[edit] External links

[edit] Related information

• Godwin's Law FAQ (also [1])
• Godwin's Law in Ursine's Jargon Wiki
• Jurisimprudence — a listing of various fandom and Internet debate laws similar to Godwin's Law
• Mike Godwin runs a legal blog called "Godwin's Law"

[edit] Notable citations to Godwin's law

• Zonk (2007-02-17). Godwin's Law Invoked in Linus/Gnome Spat. can't-the-nazis-stay-out-of-just-one-internet-argument. Slashdot.org.
• On December 12, 2005, Godwin's Law was the subject of a question in the UK TV quiz show University Challenge.^{[citation needed]}