Laughable "Truce" Proposal

[panasonic]

adding to that, the US is extremely religions as far as the conservatives go, so is this a modern day crusade? i pray it isnt, cos the last one didnt exactly benefit mankind

[vtwahoo]

it is your kind of attitude that starts debasing their existence as a human being. that is what Hitler did to Jews and look what happened.

I just want to make several observations.

1. You came very close to Godwin-ing this thread...please don't do that becuase debate is the path to edification and we're not there yet

2. I wasn't the only one who thought it ---props to you

3. I wasn't the one who said it---props to me

[Laik]

Haha, Godwin-ing.

Either way, they have thier targets but not because they are religous fantics. As someone kindly pointing out earlier, they feel they are opressed so they are fighting back. Like I said, they are terrorists but they are some people's freedom fighters.

Something that makes me a bit sick is the concept of killing them before they kill us when the conflict isn't that dire. Of course this is 'war' but the fact remains that it didn't and shouldn't have come to this, I mean some well thought out discussions could have resolved this without any fighting. While the post above certainly give a different point of view on the matter, I can certainly say that Osama Bin Laden has been playing Bush for a fool since this started.

I learned long ago that something as broad as Islam never falls under one generalization. I don't know where you got the idea of Radical Islam considering they honestly see themselves as the defenders of their faith and people and seeking to put an end to what they see as opression. Terrorist-sympatiser? Hardly, but I know that this isn't a holy jihad against the United States strickly as religious enemies there are way more things to it than that.

On second though, let me clarify. In war, it completely makes sense to kill that guy before he kills you but is that the right thing to keep in mind when things can be resolved without even resorting to weapons? That's what happen when you rush into things.

[panasonic]

jus a question. wut is godwin-ing? ppl seem to make fun of him alot, but ive never actually seen him act or on tv in general

[psi29a]

jus a question. wut is godwin-ing? ppl seem to make fun of him alot, but ive never actually seen him act or on tv in general

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwins_law

There is a tradition in many Usenet newsgroups that once such a comparison is made, the thread is over and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress.

It is considered poor form to arbitrarily raise such a comparison with the motive of ending the thread. There is a widely recognized codicil that any such deliberate invocation of Godwin's Law will be unsuccessful.

Basically, by making a reference to Nazi's and/or Hitler you automatically loose the arguement.

Basically... Godwin is a lawyer for the EFF ( Electronic Frontier Foundation ).

Godwin established the law as part of an experiment in memetics, the study of information transfer. On Usenet there was a trend toward demonizing opponents in arguments by comparing the position they held to that of Hitler or the Nazis, in Godwin's own words "a trivialization I found both illogical and offensive." [1] So, in 1990, Godwin developed the law as a counter-meme and began posting it in Usenet discussions after such a comparison occurred.

[Killfile]

Yes... but

Godwin's law has several exceptions, which are worth noting.I am aware of two formal exceptions and a smattering of informal ones.

Godwin's Law can not be invoked when the topic of the thread is/includes
1 - Indiana Jones Movies (for reasons that should be painfully clear)
2 - World War II (and by extension Genocide and other Crimes against Humanity)

Godwin's Law is generally not invoked when:
1 - When discussing the history of the State of Israel (see Can Not Invoke 2)
2 - When comparisons are made to aspects of the World War II era German military which were not strictly part of the "Final Solution" E.g. the Luftwaffe.
3 - When Nazi is used in its derived form (Soup Nazi, Grammar Nazi, Spelling Nazi, Library Nazi)
4 - When Nazi is used in a self referential manner (no examples spring to mind)

AND ABOVE ALL ELSE: A thread can never be intentionally Godwined. I.e. you can't jump into a thread and say "HITLER HITLER HITLER NAZIS LOL LOL OMG BBQ WTF!!!!111!!!oneone!(-1*i^2)"

Under these expanded rules, the aforementioned entrance of the 3rd Reich into this discussion can be allowed under the topic of Genocide. In short, that the process by which the Nazi Party brought about the wholesale brainwashing of the German people into complacency in the Holocaust displays striking similarity to the process by which Americans have justified some aspects of the War on Terror.

Godwin's Law has a place in discussion threads to be sure - but that place is to keep the discussion civil. The word "Nazi" is the Atomic Bomb of political arguments - but only when its used in a derogatory manner.

The best rule of thumb is this - imagine your virtual conversation as a real one. If you can see the Nazi comment as a calm, rational statement - chances are you're still ok. If it reads like the ravings of someone consumed by anger or frustration - it's time to move on to another thread.