In Defense of Referencing Hitler

[wtmusic]

"The whole point of referencing Hitler is to force you to test your principles in the extreme cases, and for most people, Hitler is as extreme as it gets. If we disallow reference to Hitler, it can only be an acknowledgement of the extreme position he holds in our moral imagination. But by banishing the extremes from rational discourse, we make it too easy to settle our beliefs with the comfortable cases, never having to follow positions through to their logical conclusions."

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/marcus3.html

Good essay on what has always bothered me about so-called Godwin's Law, which states, "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one. Once such a comparison is made the discussion is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress."

By banishing references to Hitler we also make the tacit assumption that it could never happen again, that society has progressed to a point where such a regression is unthinkable. But it's not only learning the lessons of history, but reminding ourselves of them from time to time, and drawing parallels through self-examination that will give us any realistic chance of preventing history from repeating itself.