Godwin's Law, "An Inconvenient Truth" and "Triumph of the Will"....An Appropriate Comparison.

Some people took offense at my comparing Al Gore's "documentary" "An Inconvenient Truth" to Hitler's film "The Triumph of the Will", made in 1934. I didn't say Al Gore was like Hitler, I said the films used similar techniques, namely the are both prime examples of propaganda.

Amazingly, there are unofficial "rule" of etiquette in online, or Internet debates. One of them is called Godwin's Law, and it relates to the use to the words Hitler and Nazi. Apparently this is considered "poor form". However note that there is an exception, and that is when the comparison is valid. See what wikipedia says on the subject.
Peter


Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies[1]) is an adage that Mike Godwin formulated in 1990. The law states:[2]
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
Godwin's Law does not question whether any particular reference or comparison to Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate, but only asserts that one arising is increasingly probable. It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued,[3] that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact.

Although in one of its early forms Godwin's Law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions,[4] the law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms, and more recently blog comment threads and wiki talk pages.
Godwin has stated that he introduced Godwin's Law as an experiment in memetics.[2]

[There is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress. This principle is itself frequently referred to as Godwin's Law.

It is considered poor form to raise arbitrarily such a comparison with the motive of ending the thread. There is a widely recognized codicil that any such ulterior-motive invocation of Godwin's Law will be unsuccessful (this is sometimes referred to as "Quirk's Exception").[5]

Godwin's Law does not apply to discussions directly addressing genocide, propaganda, or other mainstays of the Nazi regime. Instead, it applies to inappropriate, inordinate, or hyperbolic comparisons of other situations (or one's opponent) with Hitler or Nazis. However, Godwin's Law can itself also be abused, as a distraction or diversion, that fallaciously miscasts an opponent's argument as hyperbole, especially if the comparisons made by the argument are actually appropriate.

Global Warming-- Can You Trust Wikipedia?

Well, I guess we live and learn. The revolutionary online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which allows anyone and everyone to enter and edit information, has proven inaccuracies and is being banned as a reference source by many major universities. This is unfortunate because when seeking information on a subject such as global warming, it provides a wealth of information.



It seems there are more than a few unethical people publishing inaccurate and biased information on Wikipedia. People who have an agenda, an ax-to-grind, people who purposely want to mislead us, mold us, and shape our opinion. It sounds a lot like Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany's Propaganda Minister at work, doesn't it? He was master of "the so-called Big Lie technique of mass propaganda."



This unfortunate revelation about Wikipedia is rather ironic and timely, because it makes me think about the mass of distorted and frightening information being spread by the people claiming we have a looming crisis of global warming and catastrophic climate change caused by mankind's burning of fossil fuels. Could it be that Propaganda Minister and Prophet Al Gore is spreading a big lie about global warming?


By insisting that students not rely on Wikipedia, by making them think for themselves and cross reference their information, universities are taking a step in the right direction. I hope I will be swamped by people vigorously defending Wikipedia, because it truly is a wonderful source of information. The lesson is don't trust everything you read.



To see the article about universities banning Wikipedia, go here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17740041/