The 'Hitler Was Covered' hashtag proves Godwin's Law is alive and well

By Fusion Staff  |  July 3, 2015 | 3:56pm
Latest

When SpongeBob’s in doubt, he puts his pinky out. When the Internet’s in doubt, it pulls a Hitler comparison out. This terrible lede probably didn’t do much to capture your attention, but I’m OK with that because Hitler was great at capturing people’s attention—and he was Hitler.

That’s the kind of logic underlying Godwin’s law, an informal rule of the Internet that states, according to Urban Dictionary: “as an online argument grows longer and more heated, it becomes increasingly likely that somebody will bring up Adolf Hitler or the Nazis.”

For an example of Godwin’s Law in action, look no further than Twitter this morning. The hashtag “#HitlerWasCovered” became one of the top trends in the U.S. after one Twitter user alluded to the Nazi dictator during a disagreement over another user’s profile picture.

A young woman with the handle @KirbKirbs implied that the only reason another young woman, @Word2Dawn, had so many followers was because she was wearing a bra in her default. @KirbKirbs defended her photo by comparison because she’s “covered” in it, to which another Twitter user, @LilMissBoojiee, responded:

Is she wrong though? Q.E.D.

Bad at filling out bios seeks same.

 
Join the discussion...