"Leo Mauler" [email protected] wrote:
Uh oh, looks like we're going to have to start quoting "Sissel's Law". :)
Seriously, I don't think anyone will let us forget Hitler. No matter how watered down the memory gets, everyone will remember him, at least, as a Really Bad Man Who Did Bad Things To People.
Here's Monster's Commentary on Mauler's Corollary to Sissel's Law:
Hitler will always be remembered as the person to whom some people compare others, in order to make them seem bad. Unfortunately, by doing so, they usually end up making their intended target look pretty darned benign by comparison. Godwin's Law comes into play when people (including myself) make 'slippery slope' arguments:
A: The people have voted, and their will should be respected; <insert populist target here> must be ended now! B: The majority of Athenian citizens voted to condemn Socrates for his dangerous ideas. The majority thought the earth was flat, until Columbus and Magellan proved them wrong. The majority of the settlers that came to some of the colonies as a result, thought that slavery was OK, and when that was repealed, they supported Jim Crow after that. (Just to bring it on topic, a majority of desktop computer users run Windows, and apparently equate file sharing to terrorism.) And, by the way, Hitler was elected. I believe that certain things are wrong no matter how large the number of people willing to do them, and that no majority is large enough to validate them. A: You mentioned Hitler, so the thread's over and I win! B: No, because I don't believe in Godwin. A: Well, yo mama dresses you funny!