Godwin's Codicil

Full Discussion Over at Salon:

Mike Godwin himself comments that his famous "Law" was proposed to discourage frivolous, but not substantial and substantiable, Nazi analogies and comparisons. Nobody would deny that ideologues of all stripes seem only too eager too often to call up Nazi comparisons in defiance of sense and to the cost of a proper respect for the unprecedented crimes of that regime. But needless to say, when people in power or seeking power actually do behave like Nazis an instant unreflective blanket ban on drawing any attention to the facts can only benefit the ones who are behaving worst and not those who would strive to be equal to the real demands of both to the present and the past.