Taking the law into their own hands.
I occasionally stumble across the Adequacy.org
web site. It's not the sort of site you can plan to bump into it, but it's certainly
nice when that happens. Numerous fascinating articles can be found on the site,
many of which leave us scratching our heads and asking which of our legs is being
pulled. In the FAQ of the site one of the asked and answered questions is:
Does this website support Godwin's law?
No. Absolutely not. we are pro-freedom of speech and view the invocation of
Godwin's law as a barrier to the free and frank exchange of views which is one
of the core aims of adequacy.org. Face facts, some behaviours simply are Nazi
like, there is no reason to cut down a whole line of reasonable argument because
of some stupid 'Usenet' rule. We trust our readership will argue responsibly.
After all Godwin's law is only needed when the discussion is immature and unsophisticated.
Neither of these is likely here at Adequacy.org.
The site also reports
the news from a rather original point of view, telling us, for instance that:
...***BREAKING NEWS*** ... ***BREAKING NEWS***
Adequacy News Service (Holland)-- Serb leader and alleged war criminal Slobodan
Milosevic was freed today in a shock development which has thrown the War Crimes
Tribunal here in the Hague into chaos. Invoking the controversial doctrine of
"Godwin’s Law", the erstwhile dictator made his startling legal intervention
during the fifth day of the prosecution's opening argument. Legal experts stood
on aghast as Milosevic interrupted counsel for the tribunal:
Counsel for the tribunal: ... were rounded up and placed in concentration
camps.
Slobodan Milosevic: Objecting! What is it you are saying by meaning these
"camps of concentration"? Eh huh? ...
CFTT: "Concentration camps" is a phrase in common usage, referring to
inhumane mass civilian imprisonment environments, Mr Milosevic. The term dates
back to the second World War and the camps instituted by the Nazi party.
SM: GODWIN'S LAW! YOU LOSE ... You mention Nazis! You lose! ...
In a state of some distress, the board of international judges were forced to
rule that, on the technical merits of the case, counsel for the tribunal had
indeed mentioned the Nazis, and thus that Milosevic was correct to invoke Godwin's
Law.
But of course not everything on this site deals with Godwin's law. The classic
Is
Your Son a Computer Hacker? can also be found there.
Go to: How to lose an online argument.