I should stress that there are few out and out loons in the village of Holt in which I live when not here in Greece. But, as there are in every village in England and Wales, there are some and the covid scandemic has allowed such souls to flourish showing virtue as they boast of wearing masks in the bath and tut tutting at anyone who dares question the cult. As I did yesterday with my “modest proposal.”
Firstly I was told that I had lost the argument as folks cited Godwin’s Law as an alternative to refuting the hard data which I, alone in this debate, had served up. Godwin’s Law is often stated as being that he who introduces a Nazi analogy into an argument loses that argument. And gleefully the jihadists celebrated my defeat as for them I am now Emmanuel Goldstein.
Actually, Godwin’s law comes from 1990 and is an Internet adage asserting that as an online discussion grows longer (regardless of topic or scope), the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Adolf Hitler becomes more likely. My comment about how some of the laws in 1930s Germany were worth disobeying was the 3rd post on this thread. I am not sure it demonstrates anything about Godwin’s law at all but misquoting this “law” in a seemingly authoritative manner seemed to encourage the mob. The Ministry of truth 1, Goldstein nil (o.g).
As it happens, I do think that Herr Hitler passed a lot of bad laws. Don’t you? Would you have obeyed them all? I like to think that I would not have. But in Holt, some folks like to point out IT’S THE LAW IN WALES (in capitals) and for them, that is that.
As the temperature rose, one poster noticed my “modest proposal” article and said that it showed I had an obvious disdain for the village and community. Of course I do not. Most folks in Holt seem remarkably decent.
However, I have a disdain not only for those who seek to throttle dissent but also for mask jihadists and have made that clear for many a month in my writings and in not wearing a face nappy in the village. But unable to offer data to support the idea that we have never been at war with Eastasia, it is far simpler to demonise old Goldstein by saying he has a disdain for everyone in Airstrip One.
The next step will be the removal of the entire thread. My dissent will thus disappear. And soon, someone else will post comments about how some selfish oaf was not wearing a mask to combat this awful plague with a 99.9% survival rate. And that post will go unchallenged since nobody really wants to be next weeks’ Goldstein.
And at that point, nobody will think to question whether other folks in Holt might share their doubts as to the cult of the face nappy. Discussion is at an end.