Straw man

A straw man is when you make the other person's view sound sillier or more extreme than it is, so it's easy to knock down. You argue against a distorted version of their position instead of their actual position. That's unfair and doesn't settle the real disagreement. The fallacy is to misrepresent then refute—to beat a dummy instead of engaging with what they actually said. The remedy is to represent their view accurately and then respond.

Examples

• They want to use less petrol. So they want to ban all cars and wreck the economy.

• She said we should review the policy. So she wants to tear up everything we've done.

• He suggested we trim the budget. So he's in favour of slashing essential services.