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It's called a "strawman" because a dummy made of straw is easy to knock over. And metaphorically, that's what you're doing with a "strawman argument": you're not attacking the position, you're creating a weak replica of the position that's easier to beat. One simple example of this would be: A. You argue that our country should spend less on the military. B. I counter that you want to abolish 100% of military spending. You want our country to be weak, our people to be helpless and the fate of the world left to dictators and thugs. Now, maybe that is what you think. It's not what you said. The reason I'm acting like you said that is that it's a much more extreme view—and one that you're probably going to find a lot more difficult to defend. Thus, I've made a strawman argument. More on reddit.com