Strawman
It's easier to knock down someone's argument if you misrepresent it, putting words in the other person's mouth.
This fallacy seems to involve arguing with a person who is too stupid to comprehend what is being said. The person arguing wants to do is sound smarter by misrepresenting the information. A real world example is Fox News' coverage of President Obama. During this past midterm elections, President Obama was campaigning. While campaigning, President Obama made a comment some tried to tie to racism. President Obama said that Republicans can sit in the back of the car in regards to saying "No" to all of his (Obama) policies. Fox News commentators took this to mean that President Obama meant Republicans could sit in the back of the bus referring to the Civil Rights Jim Crow laws. Fox News tried to convince its audience that Obama was a racist. This is a classic example of the lies Fox News uses in its message and theme of anti-Obamaism. Clearly, the commentators were putting words in Obama's mouth that he did not say.
You can see this "Strawman" example in so many real world situations today. One example of this would be all the magazines about celebrities in the stores usually misrepresent someone whether its in what they said, what they wore, what they stand for, or what they did. And half of the time its false. I guess one could call it a lot of drama. It goes back and forth with one saying he said this about so and so and the other saying no I didn't say that. It's a never ending cycle and it not only happens to celebrities but it happens to everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe “strawman” fallacy is a common type of fallacy. I think through communication, thing s are sometimes lost or changed if done so incorrectly. It reminds me of an icebreaker type of game called telephone. In this game, there is a fairly large group of people in which a message gets sent around the circle by whispering in each other’s ear. The last person who receives the message says it out loud. The message rarely stays the same as when it starts and so it completely loses its meaning. Misinterpretations happen all the time when people are being unclear or when people try to explain things they way they understood it instead of what the other person meant.
ReplyDeleteOH, NOW THIS IS WHAT I CALL FABULOUS! I thought I was the only one who caught that. I personally feel that FOX News is and always has been Anti-Dem. I’ve realized throughout his entire presidency, that anything that has to do with him favoring one-side a little more than the other, he’s looked at as being a racist and/or inconsiderate. The question is why was Kanye West the only person to call out racism during Bush’s presidency around the time Katrina hit? Was Bush not disfavoring the citizens of New Orleans? That’s something to think about on your alone time.
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