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To: Mrs. Don-o
This means an argument attributed to the other person, which they did not actually make.

Kinda like "Mother of GOD"?

197 posted on 06/13/2017 11:46:41 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
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To: Elsie
No, you are not understanding "strawman" correctly. It is a way of arguing against something by misstating the other person's position.

For example, let's say that two people are arguing about taxation. One takes the view that there ought be a reduced, 10% tax on all income from whatever source, the same for everyone (flat tax). The second person says, "So! You want to shrink our defense budget and disarm the USA!"

If the first person objects that that's neither what he said nor what he meant, but the second person continues along those lines, the second person is making a strawman argument: "refuting" something that person #1 never said to begin with.

The way to avoid inadvertently setting a strawman, is to ask, "Please clarify something for me. Is this what you meant?"

219 posted on 06/13/2017 1:10:19 PM PDT by Mrs. Don-o (We, though many, are members of the Body of Christ and individually members of one another. Rm 12:5)
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