I was browsing a non-digital platform providing a visual interface for cerebral stimulation (an NDPVICS, or a magazine for the uninitiated), and I came across a bit of trivia I had somehow missed in my ongoing laborious search for entertaining, but ultimately useless, facts: Godwin's Law states that "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one".
Godwin's law seems particularly applicable to online discussions of politics. Political discourse, particularly in the US, but increasingly so in Canada, has devolved to the point of hysterical, ad-hominem attacks which seem designed simply to raise the blood pressure of the reader, regardless of whether or not he or she was the intended target.
The notion that such "debate" is healthy was dismembered not long ago by the erstwhile Jon Stewart during an appearance, appropriately enough, on CNN's Crossfire. Jon eloquently skewers Tucker Carlson and the infinitely forgettable whatshisname as partisan hacks, and compares their level of discourse to pro wrestling. "You're doing theatre when you should be doing debate...you have a responsibility to the public discourse and you've failed". Watch it here, it's well worth the watch, and hopefully it inspires you to debate with some couth.
GR
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