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- Politician: My opponent believes that higher taxes are
the only way to pay for needed improvements. She never met a tax she didn't
like. But I have a better idea: let's cut waste in government first.
Why are politicians always so willing to tell you what
the other side thinks? One reason is that, in explaining someone else's
views, we have a chance to oversimplify and even falsify them. In the
example above, is it really likely that the opponent prefers raising
taxes to cutting waste in government? Probably, her position is much more
complex than that, and makes better sense. But in oversimplifying her
position, this politician makes it seem the choice between them is obvious.
And that is the purpose of this technique, which we call "straw man" (like
a scarecrow) because it relies on the creation of a false image of
someone else's statements, ideas, or beliefs.
A "straw man" is rarely based on actions, instead of comments or beliefs.
Usually actions are too unambiguous to suffer the oversimplification of a
"straw man," and simple mischaracterization is not a fallacy, but a weakness
in the support of a claim. For example, claiming someone has voted for
raising taxes, when the vote was really in favor of a bill raising some
taxes but cutting many more, would not be a "straw man" in itself, but
might be used in combination with mistatements of the person's comments and
policies to create a false-image fallacy.
Politics provides lots of examples of the "straw man" fallacy, some
fairly subtle. In the 1988 vice-presidential debate between Dan Quayle and
Lloyd Bentsen, Quayle made the mistake of deflecting questions about his
youth and inexperience with the observation that John F. Kennedy was even
younger when he ran for president. Then Bentsen, in a famous retort that
was the most telling moment of the debate, said to Quayle, "I
knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. And, Senator, you're
no Jack Kennedy." This proved to be an effective and memorable remark--but
did Quayle ever say he was a "Jack Kennedy"? Did he really intend to
compare himself to Kennedy, or was he using Kennedy merely as an example
that one's age doesn't necessarily determine one's qualifications? Bentsen,
obviously a consummate debater, was able to create a false image of his
opponent's remarks with the man still standing there in front of a national
television audience.
One person's account of the statements or views of another is not always a
case of a "straw man" fallacy. But you can judge such an account in the same
way you judge any authority
or expert testimony: by who that authority is, by the apparent accuracy of
the account, and--in the case of straw man--by the likelihood that
the person being discussed would agree, for the most part, with the
description of his or her statements or views.
1. Which of the following is
an example of the "straw man" fallacy, creating a false image?
Bob Dole: "Bill Clinton is liberal, liberal, liberal."
Bill Clinton: "No, I don't think Bob Dole is too old to be President.
But I think his ideas are old."
Bob Dole: I guess when you don't have any ideas of your own, you say
the other person's ideas are old."
Bill Clinton: "We want to build a bridge to the future. Bob Dole
talks about building a bridge to the past."
1. Which of the following is
an example of the "straw man" fallacy, creating a false image? You answered:
Bob Dole: "Bill Clinton is liberal, liberal, liberal."
Dole isn't distorting or oversimplifying Clinton's ideas or comments here,
he's just calling names. Depending on the context, such name calling might
fit some other categories of fallacies, but not straw man.
1. Which of the following is
an example of the "straw man" fallacy, creating a false image? You answered:
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Bill Clinton: "No, I don't think Bob Dole is too old to be President.
But I think his ideas are old."
Clinton uses two rhetorical devices here--first, he mentions to Bob Dole
is too old without having to say it literally, and then he attacks Dole's
proposals without looking at those ideas in full. But neither of these is
an example of a straw man fallacy.
1. Which of the following is
an example of the "straw man" fallacy, creating a false image? You answered:
Bob Dole: I guess when you don't have any ideas of your own, you say
the other person's ideas are old."
This is actually an example of a false
dilemma, because Dole is suggesting that either Clinton accepts Dole's
ideas, or Clinton has no ideas of his own; there are certainly other
possibilities. But this is not a straw man, because Dole doesn't
oversimplify Clinton's comments or beliefs, he just denies Clinton has any.
1. Which of the following is
an example of the "straw man" fallacy, creating a false image? You answered:
Bill Clinton: "We want to build a bridge to the future. Bob Dole
talks about building a bridge to the past."
Bob Dole did talk about restoring the values of an earlier America, but
Clinton created a false image by suggesting that he was looking forward
while Dole was only looking backward.
You have finished the section on the "straw man" fallacy.
Choose one of the following to go directly to another fallacy:
 Post Hoc Reasoning
- Burden of Proof
- Circular Reasoning
- Loaded Question
- False Dilemma
- Unfair Fallacy
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