Godwin finds a new application

Have y’all heard of an internet phenomenon called Godwin’s Law? Put forth by Mike Godwin in 1990, it states, “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”

Apparently it is not only for usenet forums anymore.

Today was the first day of Physical Anthropology, which apparently has attracted every amateur Evolutionary Psychologist on campus. The pretension meter was at about 9.6 from hour 2 on. Anyway, we began by talking about the different streams of anthropology, and as we skimmed, we touched upon the concept of some aspects of human behaviour being biological while others are learned. This was a topic of no small interest for a couple of guys in the back, who began a lively, class disrupting discussion on whether cultural norms usually become law, or vice versa.

After volleying weak, poorly thought out arguments back and forth for a few minutes, one of them became suddenly enlightened and cried, “What about Hitler? It wasn’t a cultural norm to commit genocide, but he made it law.”

The class went absolutely silent, all his opponents stunned by his unassailable idiocy. If anyone is a discussion stopper, it’s good old Adolf. The professor, thanking his lucky stars, quickly resumed lecturing where he had left off before the incredulous moment passed.