> Godwin's law is an anti-rational knee jerk. (Off-topic) Actually, I think parent poster and you misunderstand Godwin's law. Godwin's law is just the empiri

> Godwin's law is an anti-rational knee jerk. (Off-topic) Actually, I think parent poster and you misunderstand Godwin's law. Godwin's law is just the empirical observation that, as an Internet thread grows longer, the probability of someone making a Nazi reference approaches unity. It's a "law" in the same way that Moore's Law is one. It's not (originally) intended to be a way to shut down discussion. There's nothing special about the Nazis in this regard - there is a tendency toward a "race to the bottom" when constructing analogies, and it just so happens that in our culture they're considered the worst thing that ever happened. If the Nazis never existed Godwin's Law would have referenced something else - slavery, some other genocide, etc.