the.com/straw man
Defeating an argument nobody made so you can feel briefly invincible.
means A weakened, distorted version of someone's actual argument, set up specifically so it's easier to knock down than the real thing.
from From the literal straw-stuffed dummy used for target practice — easy to punch, impossible to punch back. The figurative sense of a fake, flimsy opponent built only to be defeated shows up in English by the 1800s, though the image of a strawman as something hollow and insubstantial is older still.
- origin myth
- Scarecrows are easier to punch than people
- debate trick
- Misstate opponent's view, then demolish the fake version
- cousin fallacy
- Steel man is the honest, harder version
- spotted in
- Every comment section, every single day