# Godwin this, and Godwin that. Stick Godwin up your ass. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 29, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399 "2008-01-29T01:59:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/81 "2008-02-01T22:32:44Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] Ah, I see. Is this a new rule, I must participate before I call something idiotic? I promise, the next time I have something to say I’ll make a cursory posting so that a positive connection may be made… [/QUOTE] Calm down, there’s no new rule, so far as I know. And a good thing too: no one wants to see you doing what you propose, cluttering up threads just for the sake of establishing a basis for pitting them. But it’s odd to see someone starting a Pit thread over behavior in another Pit thread without even so much investment as having participated, however peripherally, in the latter, so I asked. Then you said you _had_ shown up on the first page of the thread, which led to some confusion, because you hadn’t. I mean, I can’t make any sense out of that claim at all. Maybe this will help me figure out where I went wrong: please show me the post that you characterized in your OP (of _this_ thread, “Godwin this and Godwin that…”) as “a joke, a mere exercise in mimetics.” Then maybe I can backtrack and figure out what thread you were really talking about and why you didn’t link to _it_ instead of the Suharto thread. Because [QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] When the only words in your post are “Not to Godwinize, but…” you are a pinhead. [/QUOTE] doesn’t cut it. Following hard upon a post attempting to balance allegations of mass murder against economic and administrative competence, the post was as clear as a bell, not only to me (which may have been a lucky guess but one vindicated by subsequent posts) but to everyone else in the thread. And then, in defiance of your plerophory, they went ahead and had a polite and productive discussion. Which is, I guess, the biggest reason you didn’t jump into that thread (which was already in the Pit and _is_ where the offense you cite occurred, after all): you’d have looked like a fool. So if you wanted to start a fight, you had to start it elsewhere, and here we are. No, there’s no rule, and nobody wants one. But this thread makes you look as if the real issue was your desire to pick a fight, and the topic of controversy a poor afterthought. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/82 "2008-02-01T22:43:04Z")
[QUOTE=The King of Soup] There’s obviously something here too subtle for me. The thread linked to in your OP is **BrainGlutton** ’s “Indonesia buries mass-murderer Suharto with full military honors.” There’s less than a page of it, and of the forty-two posts in it, I can’t see one with your name on it. Which is yours? For that matter, _what_ was “a joke, a mere exercise in mimetics?” Are you talking about a post in some other thread, one not linked? [/QUOTE] I didn’t think he was referring to a post on the SDMB at all. I thought he was referring to Godwin’s Law itself. If I’m mistaken, I’d be quite grateful to have the statement (“a joke, a mere exercise in mimetics”) explained… ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/83 "2008-02-01T23:10:21Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] I didn’t think he was referring to a post on the SDMB at all. I thought he was referring to Godwin’s Law itself. If I’m mistaken, I’d be quite grateful to have the statement (“a joke, a mere exercise in mimetics”) explained… [/QUOTE] By golly, I bet that’s it. I was looking too hard for reasons compatible with some rational basis for this thread. I can understand _why_ the OP would characterize Godwin’s Law as a joke, but not _why_ he thinks the law is an “exercise in mimetics.” Mostly I don’t see _how_ his point would be advanced in any way even if it was both, since even as a joke it still illustrates a concept that is both real and valid. So if that’s the point, it’s a really dull one (except insofar as it would disqualify the mere mention of the name Godwin as a complete argument, but as I’ve said, I don’t think anybody in the linked thread is _doing_ that). Nonetheless, I think you’ve once again headed the nail on the hit, as they say, and it does neatly eliminate one of my sources of confusion by postulating poor reasoning and/or vocabulary on the part of the OP to explain it. I’m still struggling with the rest, though. What do you think he was asserting, five or so posts ago, by saying he “showed up in the first page?” He sure as hell didn’t mean _this_ thread. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/84 "2008-02-02T04:50:17Z")
Bet he did… 😃 Antecedents often get garbled here on the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/85 "2008-02-02T14:04:47Z")
[QUOTE=The King of Soup] … plerophory… [/QUOTE] Submitted to _Reader’s Digest_ Word Power. If they respond with a check, be assured that the money will be squandered on drugs and lewd women. But never let it be said I am not grateful, you will be in my thoughts, albeit briefly. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/86 "2008-02-02T22:13:17Z")
[QUOTE=The King of Soup] I can understand _why_ the OP would characterize Godwin’s Law as a joke, but not _why_ he thinks the law is an “exercise in mimetics.” [/QUOTE] Why? Because that is [exactly what it is](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law#History), unless you’d care to argue with the person who made the whole damn thing up. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/87 "2008-02-02T22:18:29Z")
The guy who makes stuff up loses control the very second the rest of us get our hands on it. Witness “the exception proves the rule”, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![asrivkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9d8465/32.png) [@asrivkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asrivkin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/88 "2008-02-03T01:56:09Z")
Wouldn’t mimetics be, like, the study of [Mummenschanz](http://www.mummenschanz.com/) ? Just saying… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/89 "2008-02-03T07:23:49Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] Why? Because that is [exactly what it is](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law#History), unless you’d care to argue with the person who made the whole damn thing up. [/QUOTE] What about the other thing? C’mon, I’ve got a Snickers bar riding on this… ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/90 "2008-02-03T07:38:02Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] Why? Because that is [exactly what it is](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law#History), unless you’d care to argue with the person who made the whole damn thing up. [/QUOTE] Well, not so much what it _is_ as what someone _called_ it, and that’s why everyone should buy a new dictionary every decade or so. I thought you were just misspelling the word _mimetics_, by gum, and I couldn’t figure out any coherent set of facts that would make your posts make any sense. I’m relieved by the fact, as you put it, that it’s all down to someone who recently “made the whole damn thing up.” I read the link, by the way, and truer words were never spoken. _Memetics_? Phooey. However, before arguing, I’d rather have _you_ put together a coherent couple of sentences explaining why Godwin’s law is an exercise in memetics in a different way than just any old shared thought is, why that would matter in the first place, why you called it a joke when the same source you rely on for the memetic reference seems to renounce that characterization, what thread you were talking about when you said that you had shown up on the first page of it, and basically explain why you’re picking a fight over an interpretation of Godwin’s Law that no one discoverable has violated or disputed. I can do without it. I don’t require sense from strangers. But sometimes, when I get it, I learn stuff. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/91 "2008-02-03T07:50:24Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Submitted to _Reader’s Digest_ Word Power… [/QUOTE] I grew up in a large though decrepit house stuffed to the third-story rafters with very old books. I’ve often wished everyone could do that. We haven’t met recently. Please accept my best regards and wishes. And condolences that the word “plerophory” has long been dropped by many modern dictionaries. The lewd women may insist on cash. But I hope you meet one who is as philological as she is flexible. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/92 "2008-02-03T08:32:44Z")
Her name was “McGill”, she called herself “Lil”, but everyone knew her as “Nancy” ---
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/93 "2008-02-03T10:47:33Z")
[\](http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k289/foraboard/godwin.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/94 "2008-02-06T05:52:57Z")
Oh, come on! Everybody wants to sulk once in a while, **Airman Doors, USAF** but, for Pete’s sake, **kaylasdad99** has a _Snicker’s bar_ bet on your explanation here! It’s not like you haven’t been asked politely, and let’s face it, you’ve pretty much avoided every question directed at you. So pony up just the once, even if you’re really above it, and answer the nice polite people who are asking you civil questions. Okay? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399/95 "2008-02-06T07:05:59Z")
It’s not _that_ important, actually. The Snickers bar bet is with myself… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/godwin-this-and-godwin-that-stick-godwin-up-your-ass/435399.md?page=4)