The Manic Mechanic

I am of the belief that Godwin's Law should be stricken from the debate and discourse law books. For those unfamiliar with the concept of Godwin's Law, it states "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one". In other words, given a political (usually) topic, as the debate becomes more and more heated, someone inevitably brings up Hitler or Nazis in comparison to the current subject, and at that point the conversation becomes unreasonable and invalid. These days the 'law' is invoked by conservative or sensitive individuals who feel their sensibilities are under attack or believe that the historical atrocities of the Nazis can not be approached or equalled my contemporary groups or individuals. It's also usually an exercise in 'political correctness' as well.

Those who know me well, know I am far from politically correct, and am not afraid to speak my thoughts on certain subects. Well, given the latest latest diatribe by Pope Ratzinger, directed at our wonderful neighbors to the North, I can see his time spent as a Hitler Youth stuck with him throughout the years. To me, he joins the Bush Administration, Fred Phelps, Ann Coulter and any number of radical conservatives heading down the same road as was taken in Germany starting in the 30s. Of course, no one is tossing Jews into gas chambers, but neither did Hitler in his early days. But, given the secrecy surrounding this administration, the boosting of the military as a power not just abroad but stateside as well, unchecked corporate power, the bypassing of checks and balances of the government, etc, one can find parallels in history during the rise of of the Nazis. As a political bloc doing whatever it takes to expand it's influence, the radical right will stop at nothing to push it's agendas at home and abroad.

Never has the phrase "those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it" meant so much.