Let us put this Godwins law to rest once and for all. It is an ugly meme circulated by the very proponents of denial and historical revision I expect we all universally hate. To axiomatically put *any* discussion or comparison beyond mentioning the Nazi phenomenon is stupidity in the extreme, and at worst it is collusion in the very process that led to the rise of this dark period of human history.

I think the words “Those who cannot remember history are doomed to repeat it.” sums up my argument here.

Fact: There was such a thing as a Nazi regime in Gemany in the 1930s

Fact: The aims of that regime led to a world war in which millions of people died.

Fact: The regime engaged in many political practices which two generations held as the epitome of pathological thinking including, eugenics, ethnic cleansing, nationalist propaganda, not to mention the less dramatic effects of censorship and the subversion of the peoples army and police against them to serve the extra-national interests of the state.

Fact: This sorry episode culminated in the systematic slaughter of about 4 million Jewish and Gypsy persons in death camps.

To pretend that this represents some unique and unrepeatable mistake, that it is not a symptom of our deeper human natures, and that no parallel can be drawn between it and the political thinking of some contemporary extremists is utter naivety.

Certainly one should not use the comparison lightly, and that in a nutshell is the somewhat humorous assertion of “Godwins Law”, for example calling the police Nazis for breaking up a noisy party.

However, when it comes to matters of corporate collusion with repressive regimes, involving actions that result in the imprisonment, or worse, of people for beliefs or activities widely held as rights by decent thinking westerners, then I believe the comparison is entirely appropriate.

Perhaps a better rule to invoke in this case is Benfords rule of controversy, since the Yahoo company are being extremely cagey about their involvements leading to wild speculation.

I’m sure many Jewish and German folks feel equally offended by this frivolous and largely misunderstood “Godwins Law”. To render the subject anathema to the extent that people do not feel comfortable debating these serious humanistic issues is a disservice to those who perished.

Perhaps we need a new law. Those that invoke Godwin at the earliest opportunity have lost the argument since they have proved themselves incapable of engaging in difficult debate and are largely ignorant of history.

Before I get a dozen replies explaining all the ways that Yahoo are NOT like Nazis, you have missed the point.

Godwin’s Law exists because of the quantum leap from any rational conversation to doomsaying by fools believing we are inches from a genocidal fascist regime.

If a braindead twit thinks that some person with an opposing viewpoint is somehow bringing about another Nazi regime, they are clearly beyond reasoning with. THE CONVERSATION IS OVER.

Why should that end this conversation? It is relevent to Yahoo!’s dealings with the Chinese government.

Don’t be retarded. The parallels you can draw between contemporary China and 1930s Germany are about as strong as between 1930s Germany and the Mongol invasions of Persia. Technological and economic changes between the two periods render any one-to-one analogies flimsy.