For those of you who don’t know, Godwin’s Law is about gratuitous references to Hitler, and Rule 34 is “if people, animals, or inanimate objects do it, someone’s made a porn of it.”
What we also seem to need is a “_______ Rule or Law” for this: People who say that all of society’s problems would disappear if people spanked their kids. :rolleyes: These are also the same people who usually say that total strangers regularly walk up to them and tell them how well-behaved their kids are - something I have NEVER witnessed and learned not to do as a teenager working at Target, because the parents would always say, “Come back in 10 minutes and you’ll be singing another tune.”
p.s. I thought of this in the wake of the story earlier today about “flash robs”, big crowds of teenagers who show up at shopping malls and cause trouble.
That pre-dates the internet. I’ve never taken it literally; maybe I’m being charitable but I’ve always interpreted it as “there’s someone who has never had to face the consequences of his/her actions.” Meaning wet noodle parents who wussed out on any discipline and rushed in to rescue their kids from any of their failings.
I dunno. Godwin’s is that ANY debate eventually gets to the point of invoking Hitler. Saying that debates about delinquent teens will eventually have someone promoting spanking seems less noteworthy.
You have to wonder, at what point does the wrong, popular understanding of a “law” supersede the actual original meaning? Because I think the internet in general has outrun Godwin long since.
I think the better law would be when people suggest that brutality is a simple, easy solution to a complex problem but modern society is too effete to admit this-unlike previous generations. “Just beat the ADHD/anxiety/gay outta 'em”, but also “if you’re getting sexually harassed, punch him in the balls/ get your father/brother/husband to rough him up” and “bullies stop if you aren’t too much of a pussy to stand up for yourself and hit back”
Proverbs 13:24… Hard to work that into a rule… “Proverbs Law…” Doesn’t sound right. Proverbs are supposed to be written by Solomon, so it could be Solomon’s Law.
It’s a reference to the shepherd’s crook, which was used (in most cases) to guide the sheep. The word “discipline” means “guidance”, not beating or visible injuries.
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1
Stuff like “…and then you lose!” isn’t officially part of the Law despite a lot of people thinking it is. Just that someone will eventually bring up Hitler if the discussion goes long enough. And, as Mr Godwin has pointed out, there’s times when it’s entirely appropriate to bring up and compare Hitler (or the Nazis) to something.
But it does refer to physical discipline, of which the word “spanking” in the OP is an example. The shepherd doesn’t just nudge with his crook, but gives some serious shoving and no little bumping and whacking. The quote from Proverbs is suggesting hitting with the rod, not merely holding it out as a guide-post.
Spanking isn’t the same as beating or causing visible injuries, so I think you’re exaggerating what the OP was asking about.
Haven’t you heard? Godwin’s law has been amended. The word “Hitler” replaced by “Obama”. Every forum discussion eventually will have a reference to Obama.
Google hits /straight dope hitler/ = 87,000. For /straight dope obama/ = 374,000
Not valid evidence that threads not about Obama and politics eventually have a reference to Obama. There are a lot more threads that are about Obama and politics in general than are about Hitler/world war 2 and such.
It would be the You Could’ve Done More law. Regardless of the problem, you could’ve spanked / stood up to / dressed less like a slut, or otherwise owned the situation better. And you should therefore feel like shit.
In the long Free Will v Determinism thread here in IMHO, some folks are pointing out how Free Will is often just a way of saying Humans Are Bad and should feel awful about it.
Just wanted to point out that not spanking =/= not disciplining. We hardly ever spanked our two older kids and never spanked the third. That didn’t mean we didn’t discipline them, just not coporally. We are overjoyed with how well they all turned out.
I think a lot of this is just "Things in general were better when I was (or my parents or grandparents were) a kid. We should do things like they did back then. Same meme as “Make America Great Again”. One of the things they did more of back then was spank kids.
Though based on surveys I think a large part of the change is it’s not done so openly any more so its prevalence isn’t as noted. It wasn’t uncommon to see a parent spank (and I don’t mean just a swat) a child when I was a child. I saw quite a few of them given on a bench right outside the A&P. I’ve not seen a spanking out in the open in years.