Godwin's Law.
Know it,
Love it,
Live it.
The thing about Godwin's Law is it doesn't solely apply to the internet. It sneaks up in every part of our every day life. I once was trying to get a coworker to fill out a required form so that he could continue his employment. When he asked why I explained to him that it was a matter of record keeping requirments for the government, to which he responded rather loudly, "Yah, you know who else kept records? The Nazis!"
Now lets just try and ignore how rediculous that statement is and take a step back and consider the implications. In a roundabout way this person is implying that our behavior is as deplorable as that practiced by the nazi party during their reign over the german empire of World War II. Inevitably I see this argument crop up whenever a person in a position of authority uses said authority to the dislike of another. Now, if the Nazi party had simply been a bunch of annoying thugs who liked to burn books and push people around here and there, I might be able to let things go. I just asked you to behave within a reasonable manner outlined by the rules of my establishment which you are in no way required to take part, at no time have I invaded your country, attempted complete genocide against your people, performed elaborate and inhuman experiments on unwilling human subjects, destroyed homes lives and families in an effort to feed my own insatiable need for some messed up sense of self worth. When I start to do these things then you can compare me to Hitler, but untill then, my telling you to quit pissing on my parade does not necesitate the reformation of the allied powers to stand against my tryanny.
I have to wonder what these peope were doing during the usually sizable chuncks of history class devoted to World War II that they really have no conept of just how bad things were in the axis territories? Did I walk away from every lecture about that part of history having learned the wrong message?
I always thought the saying was "Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" but apparently it's "Those who fail to abuse history are doomed to live surrounded by annoying asshats."
Just drop it, I'm not the new Hitler, I don't like you, and that means you need to stay the fuck away from me.
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1 comment:
I empathise with you in regard to dealing with rediculous co-workers. But I can also see it through their eyes too. Because some bosses can be asshats themselves for no good reason.
And the line between good and evil with out own government is becoming very, very, thin sometimes. What you find irrelevant or disturbing is actually a great way for us all to be reminded of that evil in something as simple as his statement. I usually just nod, make them do what they have to do and then privately agree with them. In other cases I tell them they are being rediculous and that everyone has to do it to remain employed. If they don't like it, they can write their congressperson and bitch at them.
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