{"id":10665,"date":"2014-03-23T11:20:57","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T15:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/?p=10665"},"modified":"2014-03-26T07:59:27","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T11:59:27","slug":"the-news-sites-that-most-embody-godwins-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/2014\/the-news-sites-that-most-embody-godwins-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The News Sites That Most Embody Godwin&#8217;s Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10667\" alt=\"hitler parade\" src=\"http:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hitler-parade.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hitler-parade.jpg 620w, http:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hitler-parade-300x187.jpg 300w, http:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/hitler-parade-80x50.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\u201cAs an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler or Nazi\u2019s approaches 1\u201d<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><i>Godwin\u2019s Law<\/i><\/p>\n<p>One of the surest ways to show that someone is bad is to liken them to a Nazi, thus ensuring that everyone listening knows that they gas minority groups and are definitely The Bad Guy. It\u2019s also cheap, overdone and makes the offender look about as broad minded as the Naz- erm\u2026the\u2026uh\u2026<!--more-->Apple fan boys we guess? But that doesn\u2019t stop it from happening. A lot. We were interested in the most flagrant offenders, and searched for uses of the word \u2018Hitler\u2019 across various websites to see how many hits we could get. We then accounted for the size of the websites, and found the following:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?cid=BA8E3793E29D99EB&amp;resid=BA8E3793E29D99EB%21617&amp;authkey=&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item='Chart%201'!A1%3AJ15&amp;wdHideGridlines=True\" height=\"330\" width=\"633\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><i>Note<\/i>: <i>The searches (via Google) turn up uses of the word \u2018Hitler\u2019 in the both the website\u2019s articles <\/i>and<i> comments sections.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>American news outlets seem to embody Godwin\u2019s law more often than British ones which is unsurprising. Democrats believe their opponents are Hitler. Republicans believe their opponents are Hitler. Even <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.zap2it.com\/pop2it\/2010\/05\/justin-bieber-fans-call-shaved-bieber-creator-hitler.html\">Justin Bieber fans believe their opponents are Hitler<\/a>.<i> <\/i>Where else can you find that kind of agreement in America today? Hitler has done the most to unify Americans since the invention of the drive thru. Wikipedia also mentions Hitler a lot. For an encyclopaedia that covers over ten thousand years of history it\u2019s oddly focused on this one man, with a 1,905 word <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sexuality_of_Adolf_Hitler\">article on his sexuality alone<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Another trend is that the more up-market the news site, the lower the Godwin compliances, which fits with the general idea that Hitler references show a lack of imagination.\u00a0 As <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/9645274\">The Economist<\/a> put it, \u201cA good rule in most discussions is that the first person to call the other a Nazi automatically loses the argument.\u201d Except that the Economist fulfils Godwin\u2019s law weirdly often.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?cid=BA8E3793E29D99EB&amp;resid=BA8E3793E29D99EB%21617&amp;authkey=&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item=Chart2\" height=\"330\" width=\"516\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Which is odd given that Adolf <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Economy_of_Nazi_Germany\">once said<\/a> \u201cthe economy is something of secondary importance\u201d. \u00a0Perhaps they took it personally and have thus seen fit to mention him in the context of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/news\/britain\/21590942-sharing-economy-all-very-wellbut-not-my-car-thanks-single-lane?zid=309&amp;ah=80dcf288b8561b012f603b9fd9577f0e\">car-sharing<\/a>, Hungary\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/node\/21556619\">GDP in the year ending Q1, 2012<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.economist.com\/style-guide\/syntax\">grammatical syntax rules<\/a>. It will also surprise precisely no-one that among the biggest followers of Godwin\u2019s law is Israeli English language news agency Haaretz:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?cid=BA8E3793E29D99EB&amp;resid=BA8E3793E29D99EB%21617&amp;authkey=&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item=Chart%203\" height=\"330\" width=\"516\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So for frequency of use of the word \u2018Hitler\u2019, the Israelis should be looking sheepish. But although Youtube doesn\u2019t have a particularly high <i>frequency<\/i> of Godwin\u2019s law violations, it makes up over half the <i>total<\/i> Godwin violations of the internet.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/onedrive.live.com\/embed?cid=BA8E3793E29D99EB&amp;resid=BA8E3793E29D99EB%21617&amp;authkey=&amp;em=2&amp;wdAllowInteractivity=False&amp;Item=Chart%204\" height=\"330\" width=\"516\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Overall then: If you\u2019re after lots of Hitler references, go to Youtube. If you want to have the best chance of a Hitler reference on any given day, read Haaretz. Or for seriously intelligent news that helps readers put pretty much anything in the context of the Third Reich, head over to The Economist.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It may also amuse you to discover <a href=\"http:\/\/www.centives.net\/S\/2011\/how-much-does-it-cost-to-go-to-hogwarts\/\">how much it would cost to attend Hogwarts<\/a>, or what <a href=\"http:\/\/www.centives.net\/S\/2013\/refusing-the-apple\/\">villains could have been doing instead of being evil<\/a>.\u00a0You can find those and other interesting things in our\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.centives.net\/S\/category\/editorial\/\">Editorials\u00a0<\/a>although if you want a selection of our most popular check out the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.centives.net\/S\/greatest-hits\/\">Greatest Hits<\/a>.\u00a0And be sure to stay in touch:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/Centives\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/071712_1126_HowMuchDoes4.png\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Centives\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/071712_1126_HowMuchDoes5.png\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.centives.net\/S\/feed\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/071712_1126_HowMuchDoes6.png\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Let us know what you think of the article in the comments below &#8211; you don&#8217;t need to go through the bother of signing up. We&#8217;re not afraid of you spam bots! Before you do though please consider supporting the advertizers who make this site possible:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\" async=\"\"><\/script><!-- Godwin's Law2 --> <ins class=\"adsbygoogle\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 468px; height: 60px;\" data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1046157268502741\" data-ad-slot=\"7992935797\"><\/ins><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAs an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler or Nazi\u2019s approaches 1\u201d Godwin\u2019s Law One of the surest ways to show that someone is bad is to liken them to a Nazi, thus ensuring that everyone listening knows that they gas minority groups and are definitely The Bad Guy. It\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/hitler-tardis.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10665"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10764,"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10665\/revisions\/10764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.Centives.net\/S\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}