Godwin's Law

From Encyclopedia Dramatica

Contents 1 History & Devolution 2 Usage 3 Important Safety Tip On Usage 4 The Godwin Variation 5 Quirk's Exception 6 Related Laws 7 Related Articles

[edit] History & Devolution

Contrary to popular belief, Godwin's Law is not just some shit that was made up in school one day that you only read about on Wikipedia or usenet. It is some shit that was made up in college by an actual college student named Mike Godwin. According to those who witnessed the event, in the spring of 1986, Godwin was actually sleeping in one of his law sk00l classes when he abruptly woke up from a nightmare about one of two former deviant sexual partners of his that's we'll simply refer to as either "Lisa B-S" or "Wiggly Toes". His incoherent screamings sounded much like the phrase uttered that has become known as "Godwin's Law":

"As a thread grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

According to those who know Godwin or either of the significant whatevers, both of these ladies were Hitler incarnate, which means the nightmare probably had one or both of them gassing the poor bastard in the Camps. Or making hot monkee luv to his fat ass. Same difference.

It ought to be noted that despite the pseudo-mathematical styling of this formulation, it is mathematically equivalent to saying "Sometimes people make comparisons involving Nazis or Hitler," and thus means pretty much nothing.

[edit] Usage

There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length. Osama Bin Laden has been lobbying for his own variant on the law and has proposed the name "Godwin's Fatwa" for such occurences.

However, despite the increasing likelihood of such comparisons, the probability of such a post never actually reaches a certainty. Thus, some argue that a thread can indeed continue unto eternity, or until it is cut short by either the indefensible actions of trolls, or g2g i need sleep.

Godwin's Law manifests itself on LiveJournal so often that it spawned a fake journal, aptly named godwin.

[edit] Important Safety Tip On Usage

It is no longer necessary to be a Gentile to be a Nazi. For example, Simone is a Jew, but she is still a Grammar Nazi. There is also substantial evidence that the Soup Nazi was a Jew.

If you see any instances of Godwin's Law or its various corollaries/variations, please mail a link and/or transcript. - Aussieintn

[edit] The Godwin Variation

Boy, that sounds like a Michael Crichton book. The Godwin Variation is a natural mutation of Godwin's Law that was almost inevitable as the Law became more and more prolific and respected. In its popularity, it has become a method to voluntarily end one's involvement in a flame war that has outgrown its hilarity. When one or both sides of a war are reduced to ad hominems (IE, "ur a fag," "your dick is small," "girls hate you," "you fuck goats"), it is in the best interest of the war that one's personal involvement be killed outright. To do this, one can respond to one or all comments on the thread with the Fifty Hitler Post, which is simply an outrageous number of images of Adolf Hitler in close succession. This is almost guaranteed to get you banned from the thread, thus ending your involvement. Like Vegas, quit a flame war when you're ahead.

[edit] Quirk's Exception

Intentional invocation of this so-called "Nazi Clause" is ineffectual. He will, however, deliver presents on 4/20 of any given year.

[edit] Related Laws

Please see article Internet Law under 'Miscellaneous Internet Laws'.

[edit] Related Articles

• Aliza Shvarts
• Hamtaro's Theory
• Holocaust
• lollercaust
• Fifty Hitler Post
• Nazis