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Communism, Nazism and any other 'isms are all considered social experiments. I am not comparing your actions to those, but you cannot hide behind a statement li
by KleinmanB 15y ago
Communism, Nazism and any other 'isms are all considered social experiments. I am not comparing your actions to those, but you cannot hide behind a statement like that.
- burgerbrain 15y agohttps://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Godwin%27s_law https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Godwin%27s_la... Familiarize yourself.
- kelnos 15y agoGodwin's Law isn't a value judgement; it's merely an observation. It's neither good nor bad that a comparison to Nazis or Hitler is likely to occur in any sufficiently-lengthy online discussion. (Though people may use it as a sign a conversation has jumped the shark, it need not be.)
- burgerbrain 15y agoThe rule of thumb is that unless you are discussing 1930s international politics, if you need to refer to Hitler in order to make your point, then you have already lost the argument. Any point worth making has more appropriate ways of making it.
- kelnos 15y agoNo, you've lost the argument when you've failed to make your point. I don't believe that to be the case here. "Reductio ad Hitlerium" isn't a real logical fallacy, it's just a joke someone made up and we've allowed to perpetuate.
- burgerbrain 15y agoYou misunderstand the purpose of logical fallacies. They do not indicate when someone has lost the argument. In fact, the belief that this is the case is itself a logical fallacy.
- kelnos 15y agoSo? What does that have to do with what we're actually talking about?
- davesims 15y agoWe need a new law that predicts how long it will take for someone to invoke Godwin's law after anyone mentions anything related to Nazis.