The Man Made of Straw

[billroper]

One of the hazards of trying to characterize the positions of people whose politics you disagree with is the ever-present danger of attributing to them positions that they don't actually hold.

It does, however, make it easier to demolish those positions, since they are generally carefully constructed for the purpose of being easily torn down.

Ah, well.

Comments

[madfilkentist]

Definitely. These come in two kinds: (1) If you hold A, people assume you hold B and C, because a lot of people who hold A do. This at least can be corrected. The more annoying form is (2) If you hold A, it's because you hold B and C, and that makes it so much easier to rebut you. The people who think this usually would rather not be corrected.

[peteralway.livejournal.com]

I remember actually being taught logical fallacies in one class or another, and realizing that the Straw Man is probably the most commonly used one in modern discourse.