19 July 2007 @ 03:45 pm
I am proposing my own internet law, on the similarities to Godwin's Law. I call it Dragon's Law.

The first person in an argument not immediately, directly, and originally related to the First Amendment, who invokes the First Amendment, loses.

Go out, observe it in action, cite Dragon's Law.
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[identity profile] cedel.livejournal.com on July 19th, 2007 08:48 pm (UTC)
Perhaps you could include a link or two to some existing examples of this phenomenon so that we could see it in action?
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[identity profile] dragonoflife.livejournal.com on July 19th, 2007 09:46 pm (UTC)
"Freedom of speech isn't" invoked to complain that using profanity on a privately-owned game server can result in account action (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=174685109&sid=1&pageNo=4)

First Amendment invoked as 'right to swear' on a privately-owned game server (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=57437661&sid=1&pageNo=3)

A pointless throwaway comment on how people use their 'first amendment rights' too liberally, reducing the important of the amendment to 'allowing people to whine' (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html;jsessionid=5048FB534D7F869DCA7DCA20A9570328?topicId=110416004&sid=1&pageNo=7)

Dragon's Law posits that by definition, the First Amendment has no bearing on a topic that is not immediately, directly, and originally related to the First Amendment. Therefore any reference to it will be inappropriate at best and at worst a sanctimonious outcry against 'lost rights' that never actually existed. At the very least the argument turns into an explanation of why the First Amendment does not apply.

In observing the relationship between Godwin's Law and Dragon's Law, we may observe the hitherto unique equivalence of the First Amendment and Hitler.
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