Straw Man Argument Research Paper

When many hear the phrase "straw man," they people probably think of a man made of a straw, or maybe a scarecrow. A man made of a straw and a scarecrow both have one underlying thing in common besides being made out of straw. They are both quite easy to spot, and quite effortlessly knocked down. A straw man argument is very similar. In the Wizard of Oz, the straw man did not have a brain, and there was nothing substantial in him. A scarecrow, other than the facade of straw on the outside, has nothing of worth on the inside, and with one blow can be dismembered. Similarly, a straw man argument has nothing backing it up, and no evidence or information making the argument strong. It is just one big exaggeration. According to one website, "You put forth a straw man because you know it will be easy for you to knock down

It's a way of misrepresenting your opponent's position."1 Essentially, the website is saying that when someone says something, you exaggerate their point to the extreme and make it sound like the exaggerated point is what they are trying to say. It is essentially putting words in their mouth. You then take that very exaggerated point and then knock it down, making "their" exaggerated point seem foolish. Here is an example of a straw man argument: "...If someone argues that funding for food stamps should be cut, a straw man response would be, 'You want the poor to starve,' transforming a proposal to cut a specific program into an exaggerated argument that the proposer hasn't made." (Bullock, Goggin, Weinberg 340) Essentially, as I said before, the person committing the straw man argument is putting words in the proposer's mouth. "YOU want the poor to starve." The proposer never indicated that. However, now that the person committing the straw man fallacy has made it look like that is what the proposer is saying, the person committing the fallacy can now easily say something like, "How cruel of you to want the poor and