We need to talk about The Straw Man Fallacy

[colditz]

Example.
Y "I want everyone to stop buying kittens, and buy puppies instead"

X "I happen to believe that kittens are much nicer than puppies, and I choose to support kittens"

Y "Oh, I suppose you like seeing puppies suffering then? You're one of those people who burns puppies alive and then eats them in a stew, aren't you? You disgust me. You're a disgusting human being. People who are cruel to puppies are often cruel to children - I'm glad I'm not your child."

What Y has done there is set up a Straw Man. Y has decided, in his/her own head, what sort of person X is, and has commented upon this effigy of X, instead of what X has actually said.

I'm seeing a lot of this going on in AIBU and it's lazy debate.

seeker, you are obviously a shit parent who wasn't adequately supervising her child.

I thought the straw man is a film? Or is it the wicker man? Its a freaky film anyway.
But agree with your idea - eg when DSis dated a Marine and i dared to air my mixed views on the afghan war, she accused me of 'supporting the Taliban and being a traitor' (so not true as i do support our soldiers!!)
It's that 'if you're not with us you're against us' thing that kills rational debate.

I am a professional thatcher and I can tell you that you are all talking rubbish. Men are not made out of straw, they are made out of blood, muscle, fat, skin, bones etc.

OH CHRIST. OH JESUS CHRIST. OH JESUS CHRIST NO.

That was the Wicker man.

Well this is what we did to a straw man at half term, so if you need any assistance

OMG surely that is illegal! Even if they are good to nothing scum you cannot actually BURN THEM. I am reporting this post!

Seth, you clearly need to watch more horror movies :)

Oh yes, the Wicker Man, eek.
There's another movie where a scarecrow is actually a man-eating flying nasty that comes alive and attacks a bus full of high school kids...

To get back to the OP - not all MNers are intellectually capable of understanding your point. If you had your way we would have to have an entrance exam at MN sign up and you'd get stupid women with real problems denied access to the judging help they badly need.

OP YABU and exclusionist and discriminatory.

Hth

Ah but its OK gorionine as the straw man isn't the actual poster. Who does like puppies, just not as much as kittens, and so doesn't deserve the same fate

do you think Netmums has a problem with straw men?

There you go again, Seth, it all 'what-about-the-netmumz'

Do they do Straw Man tickers?

Can straw persons bf their straw babies?

Mostly, I want to know if there are any straw-people here who can defend their actions.

Why be so purposefully devisive, strawies? Eh? WHY?

did you get your arse skelped aibu and shout ach no straw man.oh behave stop telling others how to dispute or compose an argument

No, sm, she's just pointing out how it doesn't add anything to the discussion it just makes the 'arguer' sound thick. you get that, don't you?

get the misplaced bellyache and straw,but still keech when others have temerity to disagree

no sm, it's more like instead of arguing the point the other person rips off their clothes and goes off running and shouting across the landscape.
Entertaining distraction, sure, but you find it boring and disruptive after a while.

i love this suggestion/imposition of mn debate.smacks of do it my way or no way,or i call ye straw person,yada yada

bet folks are bricking it

oh wooo she called me s-s-s-s-s-traw man.

omg

social death

is strawman the new troll without the missy marples

It's not just MN. It's life in general. People see what they want to see, and hear what they want to hear.

A classic example are the anti-war demonstrators, who've been around ever since I can remember.

If you don't believe in their stance, it automatically reveals that you are pro-war. There are no shades of grey. There is no room for debate.

This also works on an individual/personal level. We've all been misunderstood, and probably more times than we've taken a shit.

doh!Nae shit sherlock.humans are self selective in opinions,who'd have thunk it.by class,by ideology people self select peers and/or situations that affirm beliefs

and....

Excellent stuff, SM
Here's a old set of DH's clothes.

The Scot's are sooooo yesterday.