# We have Godwin's Law and Rule 34. We need another one, for this. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 27, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736 "2016-12-27T23:17:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/21 "2016-12-28T20:48:37Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > 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. Wait, wait, psychohistory doesn’t work on individuals… Seriously, agreement. I know people who use the “time out; I’m ignoring you for five minutes” silent treatment as punishment. (It’s also how they train killer whales. Who’s gonna spank one of those?) The results are pretty good. The key is firmness and consistency, not physical pain. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/22 "2016-12-28T23:11:10Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > 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. That’s not correct. The “shepherd’s crook” is a _staff_, as in “thy rod and thy staff…” The rod is a short club, used to dissuade predators and drive frisky sheep back to the herd. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/23 "2016-12-29T00:02:30Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > 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. I’ve seen adults give preschoolers a swat on the behind in public in recent times. I don’t have a problem with that. Far more often, I’ve also seen them make extreme threats they cannot follow through on or call the kids horrible names, which I do have a problem with. I have also been told that in some areas, it was permissible for a stranger to “correct” (i.e. hit) a child if s/he didn’t think the child was acting properly. :eek: There have been news reports about people who did do this and were arrested - and a surprising number of people who backed up what the adult did! ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/24 "2016-12-29T00:15:37Z")
How about “the wacker’s remedy” for any situation where someone suggests that “one solid whack” would have cut the Gordian knot simply and easily. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/25 "2016-12-29T22:59:06Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > 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. The truth? Well, not all problems, there would still be psychopaths and those that were just born “wrong”, etc, but it would certainly help. Actual proper spanking, which is nothing like a beating, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/26 "2016-12-30T00:12:42Z")
Maybe the causal arrow goes the other way. Spanking doesn’t create jerks, jerky kids are the ones who get spanked. No point in spanking well behaved kids. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/27 "2016-12-30T03:22:33Z")
Actually, Rule 34 is much simpler. It’s “if it exists, there will be porn about it”. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/28 "2016-12-30T04:02:50Z")
Isn’t it true that what would be good for some kids would be bad for others? Sometimes you hear people say “My parents beat me all the time, it kept me on the straight and narrow!” Okay, maybe that worked for you, or so you believe. That doesn’t mean it’s the “right” way to raise a kid. People are born with personalities. What might have served you well might have _destroyed_ another kid. To me, this is so obvious I can hardly believe it needs to be said. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/29 "2016-12-30T08:59:11Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > If a thread Godwins to Obama, it gets modded as a jab. Hitler is open game. Irrelevant to my comment on the quality of your evidence. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/30 "2016-12-30T09:12:14Z")
> [@naita](#): > > Irrelevant to my comment on the quality of your evidence. Just for fun, here’s some equally coarse and useless statistics to back up my comment. Since 2012 there’s been 500 threads with Obama in the title, and only 110 with Hitler in the title. This “clearly” shows your google results as evidence Hitler is mentioned more often than he is relevant. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/31 "2017-02-02T03:27:34Z")
On a not-so-unrelated note, especially in the wake of the election, we could also use a “law” or “rule” for the following: People who assume that if something bad happens to a woman, or women, it’s automatically because they are women. In most cases, not necessarily. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/32 "2017-02-02T15:03:03Z")
I’ve created the “Yeah, but…” idea. No idea is so outlandish that some poster won’t think of a way to justify it. Someone is using the handicap bathroom stall as a private cell phone booth? “Yeah, but maybe she is handicapped, and had to use the stall and got into an important conversation.” Someone is shaking and sweating and her symptoms disappear when she starts texting is obviously addicted to texting? “No, maybe she’s texting her drug dealer.” ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/33 "2017-02-02T23:08:09Z")
I think it should be named after [George Coles](http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/coles_george_10E.html). He was likely a spanker and his kids never amounted to anything. Additionally, Once Cole’s Law is established we can place it where it belongs; next to the fish and chips. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/34 "2017-02-03T02:35:46Z")
Hmmm. Long ago, I made up the word pandeve. It’s a portmanteau of Pandora and Eve, and it describes someone who thinks that the world was meant to be a good and fair place, and it would be, too, if not for X. X is the problem. Or people who do or are X are the problem. For this person, X would be people not spanking their children. If only people spanked their children, the world would be a fine and proper place. Other pandeves have chosen an ethnic or religious group and think that if only they were gone, everything would just fall into place. ---
**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, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736/35 "2017-02-03T02:56:55Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Hmmm. Long ago, I made up the word pandeve. It’s a portmanteau of Pandora and Eve, and it describes someone who thinks that the world was meant to be a good and fair place, and it would be, too, if not for X. X is the problem. Or people who do or are X are the problem. > > For this person, X would be people not spanking their children. If only people spanked their children, the world would be a fine and proper place. Other pandeves have chosen an ethnic or religious group and think that if only they were gone, everything would just fall into place. Nice one, but it occurs to me that _Candeve_ (Candide and Eve) might be more fortuitous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-have-godwins-law-and-rule-34-we-need-another-one-for-this/775736.md?page=1)