A straw man argument, sometimes called a straw person argument or spelled strawman argument, is the <a href="https://www.grammarly.com/blog/logical-fallacies/">logical fallacy</a> of distorting an opposing position into an extreme version of itself and then arguing against that extreme version. In creating a straw man argument, the arguer strips the opposing point of view of any nuance and often misrepresents it in a negative light. The straw man fallacy is an informal fallacy, which means that the flaw lies with the arguer’s method of arguing rather than the flaws of the argument itself.

The Straw Man Argument

One of the earliest references to the straw man argument dates to Martin Luther. In his 1520 book On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, he claimed that one of the church’s criticisms of him was that he argued against serving the Eucharist according to one serving practice despite his never actually making that argument. Later recognition of the straw man fallacy as a distinct logical fallacy dates to the twentieth century. The term originated with the idea of setting up a simplistic imagined opponent that’s easy to knock down, like a scarecrow or a military training dummy.

History of The Straw Man Fallacy

A straw man argument is constructed by presenting an opposing position as a warped, extreme version of itself. There are a few different ways an individual might turn a reasonable argument into a straw man:<ol><li>Oversimplifying it.</li><li>Focusing on just one part of the opposing argument: The arguer shows a tiny sliver of it as if that sliver were the whole thing.</li><li>Taking it out of context.</li><li>Presenting a fringe or extreme version of an opposing argument as the mainstream version of it.</li></ol>

Strawman Argument: How It Works

Straw man arguments are used in a few different ways. In a live debate, one might be used in an attempt to back the opposing debater into a corner and force them to defend an extreme or unpopular take on their position. In a piece of <a href="https://www.grammarly.com/writing">writing</a>, a straw man argument makes it easy for the writer to make their position look rational and appealing.By doing this, though, the writer is giving readers a biased look at the issue they’re discussing. When readers aren’t familiar with the topic, this can give them the wrong idea and prevent them from developing well-reasoned opinions on it.

Live And Written Usages Of The Strawman Argument

The easiest way to identify a straw man argument is to determine whether an argument sounds too simple or extreme to be true. Take a look at these statements:<ul><li>My opponent hates animals and doesn’t care how many will be displaced by his project. </li><li>Our new principal wants to ban everything that’s fun. </li><li>Their only priority is to make more money for their shareholders. </li></ul>See how all of these statements contain simple statements that lack nuance? That’s a key characteristic of a straw man argument.

Identifying A Strawman Argument

To counter a straw man version of your position, restate your position in the clearest, most definitive language possible. The clearer you are, the more difficult it is for your opponent to distort your works or take them out of context. This works as a straw man prevention strategy as well as a straw man rebuttal strategy. When you’re actively being misrepresented by a straw man, stay calm and try to avoid straw-manning your opponent in return or letting your argument devolve into other fallacies

How to Counter a Straw Man Argument

Asking your opponent to elaborate on their claim: Depending on the claim, ask them where they got their data or how they came to that conclusion based on what you’ve said and done.Pointing out that your opponent is misrepresenting you: Simply call it what it is: a straw man argument.  You also need to know how to recognize them in your own writing. When you’re writing an argumentative or persuasive essay, it can be easy to use straw man arguments—even accidentally!

The Two Strategies

<ul><li>Understanding the opposing perspective enables you to craft a stronger argument of your own. When you’re able to think critically about an opposing argument and formulate well-thought-out responses, your writing is more impactful. </li><li>In a debate or another scenario where you’ll have a back-and-forth discussion with your opponent, understanding their position completely can enable you to anticipate their rebuttals and plan your responses accordingly.</li><li>Understanding opposing points of view also enables you to empathize with your opponents .</li></ul>

The Debate: Understanding Is Key

Example 1Person 1: Because of the thefts in our building, I think we should add more security cameras.Person 2: So you’re saying you don’t trust your neighbors? Example 2Person 1: I think we should mute debaters’ microphones when it’s their opponents’ turns to speak so they can’t interrupt each other. Person 2: I disagree because I support free speech.  Example 3Person 1: Our restaurant’s policy is that nobody under eighteen is admitted after 8 p.m.Person 2: Why are you against families eating dinner together?

A Few Examples

Learn the meaning of straw man argument, how to identify it, and examples of how it's used so you can avoid this logical fallacy in your writing.

Stashed ideas

What Is a Straw Man Argument? Definition and Examples

<ul><li>Some scholars see mid-20th century Chinese typewriters as a basis for predictive text.</li><li>Today, predictive text lives in the liminal space between what you will type and what you mean to type.</li><li>It's a step beyond auto-correct.</li><li>Both are rooted in natural language processing (NLP), a field that combines linguistics and computer science.</li><li>In functionality, predictive text feels less like autocorrect and much more like the Google’s search engine’s autocomplete system, which guesses what you’re about to type into the search bar—based on what billions of other people are searching.</li></ul>

The origins of predictive text

<ul><li>Predictive text reinforces certain speech and serves as a reminder that no one is that original.</li><li>The future of typing may involve fewer misspellings and slightly less work.</li><li>In a few years, computers could play an even more active role in how we write. Eventually, we may not even need a keyboard to type, and could instead pantomime the movements.</li><li>Or maybe a neural implant like the one Elon Musk is pushing will usher in “think-to-type” technology. Depending on how such technologies are adapted, and by whom, typing itself may ultimately become obsolete.</li></ul>

The future of typing

Predictive text is in your email, your documents, and your social media—and it might be making you boring.

How predictive text took over the internet

Over time, departments develop their own languages. While sales, marketing, and finance all talk about “customers,” they likely don’t mean the same thing. 
For companies embarking on a digital transformation, these language barriers that grow up between departments are a problem — one tightly bound to technical debt, which includes disparate systems, added software to accommodate them, and added effort to work around them.

The Language Inconsistency

technical debt is the result of shortcuts — choosing quick fixes over a long-term investment — it causes plenty of problems in the here and now. It adds enormous friction any time people need to coordinate work together across silos.Technical debt grows as departments adopt increasingly disparate business language and embed that language in their systems. To reduce it, companies must establish and rigorously adhere to a small, well-thought-out common language.

Technical Debt

The seeds of technical debt are sown as businesses grow, change, and innovate, naturally leading teams and departments to develop and adopt new, increasingly specialized business language to help them do their work efficiently. 
This may not have presented much of an issue when the company was small — or when communication between departments was a person-to-person affair — but over time, a language barrier grew, making data sharing between departments extremely difficult.

An Insidious Dynamic

To automate their work, departments use databases, computer systems, and applications, which employ data models and databases to capture and lock in the business language of their users. 
While automation can help each department boost efficiency, it can also mean that the company winds up with multiple, disparate, department-level databases that don’t speak to each other very well.

Data Models

People do a lot of work to accommodate the disparate systems: Business departments develop work-arounds and IT crafts custom interfaces to connect these systems. These measures add complexity; though without them, systems simply would not work.The totality of this technical debt — the disparate systems, added software to accommodate them, and added work performed to work around them — will continue to grow until companies erect some guardrails to prevent the unfettered growth of disparate language.

The Three Factors Combined

The only proven way to fix this problem is to intervene at step one, via common language. This may seem like a daunting task — after all companies have thousands of terms in their vocabularies. The good news is that focusing first on a small subset of terms that align with the key concepts that bind the company together makes the task manageable. Our experience shows that no more than 150 such concepts are sufficient to transform the entire company. A smaller transformation project, such as adding a customer-facing app, may require as few as half a dozen.

The Resolution Lies in Common Language

The secret to resolving the conflict lies in recognizing and clarifying the underlying concepts:<ul><li>First, treat “prospects,” “signers” and “responsible payers” not as tangible things, but as roles played by one or more persons or groups of persons (e.g., organizations).</li><li>Abstract a bit further, defining a “party” as “a person or organization of interest to the enterprise.”</li><li>Take advantage of the flexibility this permits, assigning as many roles to parties as befits the business.</li></ul>

Designing Key Terms

Common language and data models provide an architecture that guides further technological development. Developing these underlying concepts, gaining agreement on them, and using them going forward is hard work. It requires committed leadership and a powerful coalition of people with diverse skills. In particular, a very senior business manager — one with the authority, gravitas, and level to call out the need for common language, sell the business case, set direction, provide resources, align others and enlist them to contribute — is essential.

Don’t Underestimate the Effort Required

A senior leader must assemble and manage a diverse team to get the work done, including:<ul><li>Conceptual thinkers who can uncover the key concepts cited above.</li><li>Skilled, business-savvy writers who can put those concepts into easily-understood, precise language.</li><li>Negotiators who can resolve differences among various groups.</li><li>Agents of change who convince others to adopt the common language.</li><li>Architects and technicians who can instantiate the resulting language into systems.</li></ul>

Developing The Common Language

For example, the word “customer” can mean different things to different departments.

Effective Digital Transformation Depends on a Shared Language

Businesses had to change their processes when the pandemic hit. Lots of scanning and signing that happened in the office infrastructure now had to be moved to a hundred different spaces: workers' home offices, sitting rooms, kitchens. Companies had to figure out new ways of doing old procedures. Some businesses, however, managed to use the pandemic to improve their collective skillset. With a move back to the office (even if partial), there is a real worry that some old habits will kick back in, and we'll lose the momentum on making life easier with technology: A McKinsey report showed that 92% of companies interviewed didn't think their business model could survive the digital revolution—and that was before the pandemic ever hit. In this sense, the pandemic just accelerated the inevitable.

The pandemic upskill 

Introducing a more technological solution to a business can be scary, especially if your business has been around for a long time. You know your thing works as is, but what if it goes downhill when you change it up? It takes you away from that comfortable spot you carved for your business and yourself.But if you do take that step, it can be extremely rewarding—in more than one way.

Adapt or die

<ul><li dir = "auto">Before the pandemic, many companies got away with a simple "this is where the kitchen is, now sit here beside this more senior person and learn" approach to onboarding a new employee.&nbsp;</li><li dir = "auto">When there are no specific resources for onboarding, employees have nowhere to look when they forget something: they need to ask a more tenured person, which can take away from that person's productivity.&nbsp;</li><li dir = "auto">By having to move that experience online, businesses were forced to formalize the knowledge of their senior employees into something the new hire could use on their own, creating a standardized approach to training. We may miss the bonding potential of sitting beside someone, but the trade-off here is valuable to companies: new employees level up more quickly and consistently. </li></ul>

Welcome to the company, figure it out

How to use remote work lessons in the office

The first thing that the recipient of the email sees is the subject line, therefore it is critical that the subject clearly states the purpose of the email and what is needed to be done with it.
Military personnel use these keywords to prioritize and categorize:
<ul>
<li>ACTION - compulsory for the recipient to take action</li>
<li>SIGN - requires the signature of the recipient</li>
<li>INFO - for informational purposes only, no action required</li>
<li>DECISION - requires a decision of the recipient</li>
<li>REQUEST - seeks permission or approval</li>
<li>COORD - coordination by or with the recipient is needed</li>
</ul>

Subjects With Keywords

Military professionals begin their emails with a brief, staccato statement that states the purpose of the email and the action required, this is called their "BLUF" or Bottom Line Up Front.
An effective BLUF distills the most important information. It helps the reader or the recipient digest the content quickly since it answers the five Ws: who, what, when, where, and why.

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)

<ol>
<li>Try to fit all content in one pane. This lessens scrolling down. If in cases where more information is required, list them in bullet points so that the recipient can get a quicker grasp of the message.</li>
<li>Link attachments instead of attaching files. This ensures that they will be given the most recent version of the file, and secures the credentials of the person allowed to see the file.</li>
</ol>

Being Economical With E-mails

Communication

How to Write Email with Military Precision

<ul>
<li>Books and novels leave their impact on young minds.</li>
<li>All kinds of fiction helps young minds develop emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills</li>
<li>There is a common misconception that reading junk novels and wild sci-fi stories is a waste of time.</li>
</ul>
New research suggests that reading science fiction and fantasy helps young people cope with the stress and anxiety of thier complicated existence.

The Benefits Of Reading Science Fiction

The first book to be banned in the United States was The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn back in 1885, as it had references to smoking, swearing and running away from home. This highlighted the fact that books, no matter what genre, have the power to educate and influence. 
A good, powerful book may also be dangerous, as it has the capability to change minds.

The Banned Books

<ul>
<li>Sci-Fi fans have often been categorized as geeks, who are disconnected from reality.</li>
<li>The fantasy world they encapsulate their minds in requires creating story worlds that increase their emotional quotient, mental resilience and problem solving skills.</li>
<li>Good science fiction writing engages the reader in real human dilemmas, helping young readers make sense of the world.</li>
<li>Stories like Hunger Games or Beggars In Spain help many young people understand complex social, economical and political issues.</li>
</ul>

Don’t Underestimate Science Fiction

Fantasy fiction provides more than escapism for young readers.

Science fiction builds mental resiliency in young readers

To be ghosted by your professional contacts, like a Linkedin connection, your prospective client, or your office colleague can feel confusing, with a sense of rejection that can shatter your confidence. 
We try to retrace our steps and figure out what went wrong, and also try to follow up for the sake of closure.

Professionally Ghosted

Ghosting can happen anywhere:
<ul>
<li>During a job interview when someone the prospective candidate ghosts the recruiter after a series of interviews.</li>
<li>During hiring when the recruiter ghosts the candidate even after all the application process and the hiring has been completed, with only the employment contract formalities remaining.</li>
<li>Many newly hired candidates don’t show up on Day one, wasting the HR resources of the employer.</li>
</ul>

Ghosting: New Joinings Gone Wrong

Many employees suddenly quit a bad job, never showing up the next day. This can also be due to their getting a better offer with immediate joining.
Professional networking is prone to ghosting, with Linkedin messages suddenly not being responded to, or a client that is being pitched for a prospective sale suddenly losing interest and blocking contact.

Ghosting In The Corporate World

<ol>
<li>People don’t like to say no, and suddenly not responding seems an easier and lazier option than a nuanced, thoughtful response that will take time and energy.</li>
<li>People avoid conflict and don’t want to hurt the other person’s feelings.</li>
<li>They are waiting for an update or a decision from someone else and don’t have the authority to respond.</li>
<li>They are stuck in bureaucratic discussions and internal office problems, which is also a red flag.</li>
<li>They may be too busy or sick.</li>
</ol>

The Reason For People Ghosting Professionally

We all hate it when someone ghosts us, both professionally and personally because of the Zeigarnik Effect. This is a phenomenon that makes our brain linger on to something that is unresolved, unfinished or demands closure. 
There is a cognitive tension inside our minds that makes us want to seek out a satisfactory resolution instead of being stuck in limbo.

Ghosting: The Zeigarnik Effect

<ol>
<li>Consider Your Approach: If you are asking for favours without any strong ties, the entire interaction can feel like begging, a transaction with no roots. Shortcut strategies and hustling without context can backfire. People may be ghosting you because you deserve that.</li>
<li>Embrace The Awkward: Instead of feeling rejected or haunted by the sudden loss of conversation, one can send a brief, lighthearted message to help the other person reconnect if they wish to. They will let you know the reason for their not replying, and if they still don’t reply, simply move on.</li>
</ol>

What To Do When Ghosted

So, You Got Ghosted — at Work

Generating creative ideas is easy. Selling them to strangers is hard. The ability to sell an idea has as much to do with the seller's traits as the idea's inherent quality. 
Judgments about the pitcher's ability to come up with workable ideas can interfere with the perception of the idea's worth. That means that when you're preparing to pitch your idea to strangers, your audience will put you in a box. And in less than 150 milliseconds.

Why selling ideas is hard

A study showed that people on the receiving end of pitches have no objective way to assess creativity - not even the expert ones. 
<ul>
<li>Their criteria are subjective and often inaccurate, and from early on, they are set. </li>
<li>If they detect subtle cues indicating that the pitcher isn't creative, they won't look favorably at your proposal. </li>
<li>However, if they are made to feel that they are participating in an idea's development, they respond well.</li>
</ul>

Catchers have no verifiable way to measure creativity

Successful pitchers tend to be categorised by catchers as one of three types.
<ul>
<li>The showrunner comes off as a professional who combines creative inspiration with production know-how.</li>
<li>The artist appears to be unpolished and prefer the world of ideas to happen daily.</li>
<li>The neophyte seems young, inexperienced, and naive.</li>
</ul>
The showrunner involves the audience in the creative process by deliberately levelling the power differential, the artist inverts the differential, and the neophytes exploit it. They all get the catchers to view themselves as creative collaborators.

Successful pitchers

We believe that creative people possess certain traits. For example, unconventionality, intuitiveness, sensitivity, narcissism, passion, and youth. When a stranger pitches an idea, the catcher subconsciously uses these traits to sort through the pitchers as creative or not. Only 1% of ideas will make it past the initial pitch.
To avoid fast elimination, successful pitchers emit passion for their ideas and find ways to let the catchers shine.

Successful pitchers involve the catchers

Showrunners combine creative thinking and passion with technical know-how to convince catchers that the ideas can be developed successfully. 
They engage the catcher by getting the catcher to respond to a memory they are both familiar with. Then they build on the catcher's knowledge and interest, eventually guiding the catcher to the core idea.

The showrunner

They display passion and enthusiasm about their ideas but are less conformist in their dress and mannerisms and tend to be socially awkward. The artist appears to have little or no knowledge or interest in the details of implementation. 
They completely command the catcher's imagination by drawing the audience into imaginary worlds. "Picture what happens when..." They lead catchers through exciting, detailed narratives.

The artist

Neophytes plead ignorance. They score points for daring to do the impossible, which is seen as refreshing. They present themselves as eager learners and confidently ask for help. 
Catchers are naturally flattered and enjoy sharing their knowledge. They become mentors who want to see the neophytes win. Entrepreneurs are generally natural neophytes. They achieve success by sheer force of personality.

The neophyte

There is nothing more dangerous than a good pitcher with no real talent. Catchers too often let themselves be wooed by positive stereotypes, especially that of the showrunner, rather than by the quality of the ideas.
Real creativity is more difficult to classify. Those who buy ideas need to be aware that relying too much on stereotypes can cause them to overlook creative individuals with great ideas.

Catchers beware

<ul>
<li>In a meeting with a showrunner, the catcher can test the pitcher's expertise and question how the pitcher would react to various changes to the idea.</li>
<li>For artists and neophytes, their ability can be judged by asking them to deliver a finished product. In Holywood, competent catchers will ask them for finished scripts before hiring them. A prototype can allow the catcher to judge quality.</li>
<li>To safeguard against hasty judgements, enlist another judge or two to help weigh the pitcher and the idea.</li>
</ul>

Test the pitcher

Before you even know it, the stranger across the desk has decided what kind of person you are. Knowing how you’ll be stereotyped allows you to play to—and control—the other guy’s expectations.

How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea

<ul>
<li>One needs to create value to claim value, and successful negotiators do not declare victory until they can help everyone win. </li>
<li>A win-win situation for all is the new age negotiation, which is more about giving and less about taking.</li>
<li>Most of us believe that the results are fixed, and we also expect the worst in others, which eventually brings out the worst in others. </li>
<li>Trying to understand the needs of our opponent and working from that angle results in better negotiation and better results for everyone involved.</li>
</ul>

The Art Of Giving

Generosity is a sign of intelligence, and givers are the rising tide that lifts all boats.

In Negotiations, Givers Are Smarter Than Takers

Clichés are a quick way to express familiar concepts. Because your brain heard the phrase many times, it knows the meaning without thinking about the writer&#39;s intention.
But the danger is that one cliché makes the rest of the writing seem lazy or low-quality and cause you to skim through the words. Nothing stands out because there is no way to differentiate the time you read the cliché from all the other times you&#39;ve read it.

Using clichés

With so much content on the internet, few get noticed. When you do get noticed, it's another accomplishment to have your words read. But you only really build a career as a writer when your audience remembers you.
Clichés seldom create memorable writing. One cliché won't ruin your writing but ensure you are using them sparingly and with intention.

Create memorable writing

For example:
Matt took the first sip, volunteering to be our guinea pig.
Matt took the first sip, volunteering to be our laboratory mouse.
In the first sentence, we don&#39;t visualise the guinea pig. It is only in the second sentence that we &#39;see&#39; the scientist, the white coat, and the mouse. This is because we associate animal testing with rats and mice, not guinea pigs.

Clichés and the mental associations we make

We use clichés in conversation and ‘real life’. Adding them to your writing or dialogue can show realism and give your essays a conversational tone. 
What’s the danger? Clichés are mental shortcuts…

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Alana F.
@alanaff

What Is a Straw Man Argument? Definition and Examples

How predictive text took over the internet

Effective Digital Transformation Depends on a Shared Language

How to use remote work lessons in the office

How to Write Email with Military Precision

Bite-sized knowledgeto upgradeyour career

Alana F.@alanaff

What Is a Straw Man Argument? Definition and Examples

How predictive text took over the internet

Effective Digital Transformation Depends on a Shared Language

How to use remote work lessons in the office

How to Write Email with Military Precision

Bite-sized knowledge
to upgrade
your career

Alana F.
@alanaff