Godwin, Revised

February 02, 2010 – 10:50 AM – Calgary Herald Blog Comment

“Godwin’s Law states that as the number of replies to an article grows longer, the probability of someone using a Hitler analogy approaches 1. Applied to articles on Real estate, the same pattern emerges: the phrase “real estate propaganda” or derivative thereof is more often than not, the first comment on anything real estate related in the news lately. These Doomers and Gloomers consist of everal subgroups. The first and most proliferate is the Anecdotal Layoff Commenter: this guy often relates anecdotal evidence to support their illogical arguments, such as: “I know a guy who knows a guy who got laid off . . .therefore it follows that real estate is a total sham”. Then you have the second sub-type, the Armchair Economist, who plugs some numbers into a mortgage calculator to support their view that housing is unaffordable, and therefore capped by the amount dictated by interest rates, down payment requirements, etc. The third sub-group of commenters are my favorite, the Little Boy Wolves, whose constant prognostications of Economic Doom are rooted in a deep-seated craving for schaedenfreude, which suggests they are renters who missed the market bottom. In fact, all three of these types of comments are counter propaganda coming from would-be buyers who hope to make housing more affordable by spreading dour market sentiment.”