Part of posting this and explaining it is for illustrative purposes here for others who dont recognize strawman arguments and get sucked into arguing the strawman argument rather than seeing the trickery and exposing the fallacy.
Been here 23+ years and know it goes on, i am refusing to let the fallacy go and point it out so others can see it so they can stop defending themselves against false arguments and things they never said. I want these things to help others who deal with these types of people, because you run into them everywhere. You have to call them on it.
Its the same as rejecting false premises. Any conversation is pointless, much less defending yourself if you dont reject their false premises as soon as they surface.
Thanks...I LOVE your advice and I’ll use it. My hypothetical response will be something like “If you think I said your wife is a crappy teacher, you need to get some help, in a hurry.”