Including Godwin himself. I'd always assumed it was a clever piece of off-the-cuff satire, and related to ill considered or reactionary responses in a debate.

Including Godwin himself. I'd always assumed it was a clever piece of off-the-cuff satire, and related to ill considered or reactionary responses in a debate. It hadn't occurred to me the whole thing might a po-faced social experiment. Still, history is written by the victors* and all that.