Godwin's law
Sign in to saveAlso known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies, Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies
Godwin's Law is known to be the oldest meme on the Internet, made by Mike Godwin. The memes meaning is to say: The longer an online conversation continues, The more of a chance there is to mention Hitler.
Wikidata facts
- Named after
- Mike Godwin
- Main subject
- reductio ad Hitlerum
- Image
- Godwin WikiWorld.png
Show 4 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Mike Godwin
- time of discovery or invention
- 1990-00-00
- Commons category
- Godwin's law
- different from
- reductio ad Hitlerum
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Godwin's law (or Godwin's rule), short for Godwin's law of Nazi analogies, is an Internet proverb asserting: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." The law's creator, Mike Godwin, maintains these comparisons often trivialize the Holocaust. It is an example of the reductio ad Hitlerum fallacy.
In 2021, Harvard researchers published an article showing that the Nazi-comparison phenomenon does not occur with statistically meaningful frequency in Reddit discussions.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Godwin's law” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.