[meepmorp]

Eh.

References or comparisons to Hitler are nearly always a lazy appeal to emotion made because the speaker is unable or unwilling to provide any better way of stating their position. And that kind of argument often gets made as a discussion over a contentious drags on and one side or the other is eager to just "win" the debate.

And, of course, you know who else thought people and things should be taken out back and shot...

[baddox]

I'm sure Godwin's law was introduced because of a genuine problem with lazy comparisons to Hitler. That said, any time I want to make a genuine comparison to something Hitler or Nazi Germany did, I have to go out of my why to find some other historical figure who did the same thing, just to avoid wasting time arguing about whether a comparison Hitler invalidates my argument.