April 2, 2009

Glenn Beck Takes Godwin’s Law to New Heights

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The contemporary version of Godwin’s Law states that as an argument on the Internet grows longer, the odds that someone compares someone else to Hitler or the Nazis approaches one. The corollary is that whoever mentions Hitler first usually loses. Godwin’s Law and Reductio ad Hitlerum are sly ways that the Internet and its denizens shame/lampoon needless hyperbole and its overheated practitioners.

Glenn Beck either doesn’t get it or doesn’t care. The man does not understand shame, good taste, or, frankly, how journalism works. Wednesday night, he accompanied his rantings about how America is descending into fascism under President Obama (which sound nutty and militia-ish, but were aired on Fox News) with over a minute of full screen images of Nazi foot soldiers marching in lockstep. It is completely over the top and completely unacceptable. Watch below (via Think Progress):

I say we rename it Beck’s Law. Godwin’s Law has been blown to pieces.

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From the desk of Mother Jones CEO, Monika Bauerlein...

Newsrooms can be funded in many ways. One of the most controversial (and volatile) ways is by a for-profit corporation or a billionaire owner. We see it across the headlines on a weekly basis: the claw backs in public media, the gutting of The Washington Post, the bending over backwards to appeal to Trump and his allies.

But not here.

When Mother Jones first started publishing 50 years ago, our founders made a critical decision: to be a reader-supported nonprofit. They knew that no corporate owner would be interested in a muckraking newsroom; they also knew that no muckraking newsroom would be interested in following the agenda of a corporate owner.

And so, we’ve been reader-funded for half a century. We rely on contributions from our readers—readers like you—whether it’s $50, or $15 a month, or whatever fits your budget. People give what they can, and every donation makes a difference for our newsroom, which has grown tremendously—in size and reach and renown—since its inception in 1976.

You may be wondering: What does it take to publish an investigation? And what does my donation actually fund? The answers are one and the same: It takes people, resources, and time. And that’s what your donation funds directly.

Every donation Mother Jones receives from readers fortifies our newsroom, whether we’re covering underreported scandals out of Washington, DC, or the most important news of the day. And right now, each donation will be doubled because of our $50,000 match. So when you make a donation—$5, $50, any amount—it’ll go twice as far.

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