Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheshire_cat
I didn't know that Bush was on Jupiter causing the climate to change there like he did over here. Interesting.
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You're the only person on planet Earth saying that, which is the definition of a straw man argument. Interesting, to be sure.
A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. [1] To "set up a straw man" or "set up a straw man argument" is to describe a position that superficially resembles an opponent's actual view but is easier to refute, then attribute that position to the opponent (for example, deliberately overstating the opponent's position). [1] A straw man argument can be a successful rhetorical technique (that is, it may succeed in persuading people) but it carries little or no real evidential weight, because the opponent's actual argument has not been refuted. [2]
Its name is derived from the practice of using straw men in combat training.[ citation needed] In such training, a scarecrow is made in the image of the enemy with the single intent of attacking it [3].[ not in citation given] Such a target is, naturally, immobile and does not fight back, and is not as realistic to test skill against compared to a live and armed opponent. It is occasionally called a straw dog fallacy, scarecrow argument, or wooden dummy argument.[ citation needed] |
