Alfredo Deambrosi

I recently learned about a delightful little concept called Godwin’s Law, which says that the longer an online discussion drags, the more likely it is to make comparisons to Hitler or Nazis.

A corollary to Godwin’s Law says that in a debate, whoever makes a comparison to Hitler or the Nazis first loses.

The idea is somewhat related to a formal fallacy called Reductio ad Hitlerum.

Members of each side of the health care debate have been comparing the other side to Nazis. Nothing stops intelligent discussion as fast as these overrused and misused comparisons.

Godwin’s Law is meant to be humorous, but go ahead and bring it up the next time someone compares liberals or conservatives to Nazis. Maybe it’ll make your discussion more civil and get it back to where it needs to be.