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A Real Life Marshall McLuhan Moment

Glenn Greenwald wrote about the whole Godwin's Law thing regarding his latest spat with Joe Klein and appears to have experienced a "Marshall McLuhan moment," as Godwin himself explains Godwin's Law:

Just a note from Godwin

While it's correct to say that my original experiment in memetic engineering was intended to be humorous, it was not at all "lighthearted," as Glenn characterizes it.

It was, in fact, with a heavy heart, dismayed at how quickly the enormity of the Nazis and the Holocaust was being eroded in political culture, that I set out to inspire people to think more deeply about glib comparisons.

I've written about Godwin's Law on more than one occasion since formulating it. For example, I explained what I was up to in a 1994 article in Wired, "Meme, Counter-meme." More recently I reflected on the enduring impact of Godwin's Law in Jewcy.com ("I Seem To Be A Verb: 18 Years of Godwin's Law.")

People familiar with my work and writings will find plenty of ammunition there to use against those who would glibly shut down discussions. The purpose of Godwin's Law is to provoke remembering, not forgetting (and certainly not silence).

—Mike Godwin

"Joe Klein knows nothing of my work. How he got to write a column about anything is amazing." Heh. For Greenwald, life is like that it appears.

Speaking for me only

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    That's hilarious (none / 0) (#1)
    by ruffian on Thu Jul 01, 2010 at 08:51:53 PM EST
    Moments like that must help make it all worthwhile for GG. How can he decide when Klein and Goldberg are deliberately misinterpreting him and when they really just don't get it? I guess it does not matter when the result is the same.

    Comparing the international legal reactions to various types of invasions and using Germany as an example is not exactly like Beck's screeds calling Dems Nazis for proposing heath insurance exchanges.

    So funny! (none / 0) (#2)
    by waldenpond on Thu Jul 01, 2010 at 10:36:57 PM EST
    It was very interesting reading Glenn doing this latest back and forth.  Sometimes it seems too easy for him.

    And that's exactly what (none / 0) (#3)
    by gyrfalcon on Thu Jul 01, 2010 at 10:45:10 PM EST
    sets Klein off into a blind rage.  He really is a piece of work.

    Parent
    Thank God. I am not losing my mind. (none / 0) (#4)
    by oculus on Thu Jul 01, 2010 at 11:10:36 PM EST
    First read this on Blackberry--no video clip.  

    Nice (none / 0) (#5)
    by squeaky on Fri Jul 02, 2010 at 12:11:30 AM EST
    What a great moment in film, brought me back in time.... and nice comparison to Goodwin. Glad he cleared it up.

    Thank goodness (none / 0) (#6)
    by NYShooter on Fri Jul 02, 2010 at 12:48:11 AM EST
    "The odiousness of the distorted Godwin's Law"

    So many people have adopted "Godwin's Law" as meaning the total, and complete prohibition of the use of any reference to Hitler's reign when discussing any other topic. That acceptance has become really pervasive, even here at TL. The idea that the most profound and horrible event of the 20th. century should be off-limits in describing other issues, is just too intellectually stupid to give it a second's validity. To be sensitive, to use analogies appropriately, to not cheapen the meaning by glib overuse is, of course, self evident.

    The lessons of that period in history are just too powerful and important  to NOT use them when referring to them adds exactly the element a speaker is trying to convey.

    Just a couple of weeks ago we were having a discussion here at TL about the reasons the Republicans are so much more successful in carrying out their agenda than Democrats, regardless of the majority/minority status of either party.

    In my couple of comments I made reference to the stories my father told me about his escaping Poland just ahead of the German's invasion, the Blitzkrieg. When I asked him how it was he saw what was coming when the rest of his relatives stayed behind in Poland and, of course, got slaughtered, my father, a psychiatrist answered, "The Look." He had studied Hitler's speeches, saw the affect they were having on the German population, and finally watched the resolve & determination of the German military. Now, all soldiers are determined but the German's were higher by a factor of ten; they had "The Look."

    Anyway, I used "the look" analogy in describing why the R's always beat our a$$es off on important issues, and why facts, figures, and being right simply don't measure up. I said that until the Democrats get the kind of leadership that inspires our Representatives to that same degree, simply being right will continue to simply mean we'll keep getting our butts kicked.

    For that I was called out, and told that my post was the most disgusting one that was ever posted on TL, using "the look" reference was beneath contempt, and that they would never, ever respond to another one of my posts.

    Fortunately, the posters who made those comments were true their word, and for me, my days suddenly got a little brighter.


    Greenwald is so well read (none / 0) (#7)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Jul 03, 2010 at 02:32:03 AM EST
    I have insomnia but I didn't make it through all the links tonight supporting his first write up that kicked off the "fight".  I will come back tomorrow and read the whole paper on the Czechs and Austria.

    I only really had one conversation with my husband where I voiced my horrible doubts about WMDs as he was leaving for Iraq.  I had been reading page 14 of the NYTimes too much I guess.  He told me that he hoped that I was wrong, because war....any war, always turns a corner and begins to create its own reasons for being.  And so it did, and there were no WMDs, just degrees of death, brokeness, and loss.

    Well Put (none / 0) (#8)
    by squeaky on Sat Jul 03, 2010 at 11:14:35 AM EST
    because war....any war, always turns a corner and begins to create its own reasons for being.

    It is like starting a government run business, set up to benefit military supply corporations. Oh yeah, and the "employees" do benefit because they get a paycheck etc, that is if they survive, but they have no collective bargaining power, and no lobbyists in congress...  upscale fodder, imo.