10th May 2006, 12:54 PM
Oh sorry, I should inform you. A "straw man argument" is defined as arguing against a weak defense of the opposition or a nonexistant stance of the opposition as opposed to their strongest or actually existing stance. This is a common occurance in, for example, conspiracy groups who will defend their argument by saying "you have to realize that the government isn't 100% right and not to just blindly trust everything they say", which is not at all the stance of the skeptic of their arguments and is something they invented to fight against.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)