Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Godwin's Law and PF's Corollary

facism, socialism, gingrich, newt, obama, drug, testing, mandatory, fail, hitler, nazi,

In case you've never heard of it, Godwin's Law states that "if you mention Hitler or Nazis in a post, you've automatically ended whatever discussion you were taking part in". After reading an interesting idea from Newt Gingrich (more on that later), I have come up with a corollary to Godwin's Law: invoking facism/Hitler/Nazi often enough is an effective strategy if you have something to do or say that actually is facist, and you don't want your opponent to be able to call you on it.



For example*: by David Niewert, Crooks & Liars




O'Reilly: I don't know whether you know this, but I did one of my papers at Harvard on this -- on how to reduce demand for drugs. But the United States has never figured it out. You can't lock up drug users, I mean, that doesn't work. And you can't force them into rehab, you have to want rehab, and even if you want it, it's very hard to get off hard drugs and alcohol. Very hard.
What you can do, though, is sanction people along the way. And this is what they do in Singapore. If you're caught possessing drugs -- and that means drugs in your bloodstream, they have a little hair thing, and they put it in there -- then you have to go to mandatory rehab. And they have centers where you go.



Now, they have no drug problem in Singapore at all, number one, because they hang drug dealers -- they execute them. And number two, the market is very thin, because when they catch you using, you go away with a mandatory rehab. You go to some rehab center, which they have, which the government has built.


The United States does not have the stomach for that. We don't have the stomach for that, Mr. Speaker.


Gingrich: Well, I think it's time we get the stomach for that, Bill. And I think we need a program -- I would dramatically expand testing. I think we have -- and I agree with you. I would try to use rehabilitation, I'd make it mandatory. And I think we have every right as a country to demand of our citizens that they quit doing illegal things which are funding, both in Afghanistan and in Mexico and in Colombia, people who are destroying civilization.



Conservatives have been throwing "socialist" and "fascist" at Obama nonstop since he was inaugurated (and before, really). At first, I found this to be a gross misunderstanding of both history and politics. To put Obama in the same league as Hitler represents a fundamental misunderstanding of that entire episode in our world's history. Complete, utter, fundamental history fail. To call someone both a socialist and a facist is like calling someone tall and short, fat and thin, pale and tanned at the same time. Socialism and facism are polar opposites on the political spectrum.



Now I understand why conservatives have been doing this. What Gingrich is suggesting is facism. Plain and simple. Drug test everyone and then forceably rehabilitate anyone who tests positive. The whole country is a suspect, and civil rights no longer apply. However, we cannot call Gingrich on his facism, because it looks like we're just joining in the "invoke Hitler as often as possible game", and that just makes everyone look stupid.



I suggest we replace "facism" with "Gingrichism".



Unfortunately, no matter what you call it, Gingrich's plan is foolish and dangerous, and we all might want to pay close attention from here on out to what I previously assumed were a bunch of Godwin's Law losers.

*link has video of the quoted conversation

14 comments:

  1. I think that the earliest critics of democracy would be thrilled that scum like Gingrich win elections. When people ask what the point is of even trying to educate the public on using reason alone and not bigotry or bias when evaluating public policy, we should just use the word "Gingrich" as a new English word meaning "the thing that makes actual coherent thought worth having."

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  2. Or we could use "gingrich" to mean "so stupid it boggles the mind" as in "you drank a fifth of voda and then drove your car into the chief of police's house? how could you be so gingrich?!"

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  3. I'm all for adopting the word "gingrich" into the language. I will happily start to use it here at work, where people are regularly gingrich.

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  4. Gingrich, with his own use of prescription drugs, would be the first on to go to his drug rehab gulag.

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  5. Wait I am still confused by O'Reilly's comments:

    You can't lock up drug users, I mean, that doesn't work. And you can't force them into rehab, you have to want rehab, and even if you want it, it's very hard to get off hard drugs and alcohol. Very hard.
    What you can do, though, is sanction people along the way. And this is what they do in Singapore. If you're caught possessing drugs -- and that means drugs in your bloodstream, they have a little hair thing, and they put it in there -- then you have to go to mandatory rehab. And they have centers where you go.


    So you can't force people into rehab that doesn't work but what does work is forcing people into rehab?????

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  6. Leigh: Hey, if we can get enough people to do it, we can start a trend! (I've always wanted to start a trend.)

    Tanya: And Rush Limbaugh. "Do as I say, not as I do" seems to be the GOP motto.

    Beamstalk: I noticed that. Then again, the fact that something doesn't work has never stopped the GOP from embracing it. (Trickle down economics, anyone?)

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  7. I'm sorry, it's gonna take me a minute to get over the fact that Bill O'Reilly appears to have said something that essentially made sense to me.

    I think my brain might be leaking out my ears.

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  8. Hey now, trickle down economics works really well for rich folks!

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  9. None of those gingriches can possibly be listening to the words coming out of their mouths. Not possible. If I heard that shit coming out of my mouth, I would tape my mouth shut.

    Step away from the keyboard, CN!

    Leigh: touche!

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  10. A teacher of mine in high school gave us a demonstration that I never forgot. He held up a strip of what looked like orange paper or fabric. "Communist" was written in marker on one end. "Fascist" was written on the other end.

    "As far apart as you can get, right?" he asked. We all agreed because we all thought that was true.

    But then he took the material he'd written on and put it back where he got it: Wrapped around an orange. And suddenly, "Communist" and "Fascist" were right up next to each other, as cozy as could be.

    I've showed that to several people. Simple, but brilliant.

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  11. so, if drugs and alcohal were not nifty keen forbidden fruit, i am pretty sure that rates of abuse would go down.

    take me - i was RAISED on opiates. i hate them. i have never done any illegal drugs, and almost never drink, because there is no allure.

    just a thought

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  12. Drug rates in Holland are pretty low- and everything is legal there.

    All we do by making drugs illegal is give the power to the drug dealers/cartels and rob ourselves of taxes.

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  13. Agree PF, I have been saying legalize it all for awhile, plus it cuts down the prison population.

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  14. Do you know what we are spending to imprison people whose only crime was possession? We wouldn't have a financial crisis anymore if we stopped spending money on that kind of shit.

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Comments are for you guys, not for me. Say what you will. Don't feel compelled to stay on topic, I enjoy it when comments enter Tangentville or veer off into Non Sequitur Town. Just keep it polite, okay?

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