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Even though I'd previously read this article, I first expected from the title "weak men" was going to refer to "men who are weak". Nope, it's a technical term f
by schoen 9y ago
Even though I'd previously read this article, I first expected from the title "weak men" was going to refer to "men who are weak". Nope, it's a technical term for a kind of bad argument.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man#Contemporary_work https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man#Contemporary_work
- opportune 9y agoI guess the "weak men" correspond to examples of the "selection form" of a straw man argument. However, I still think the "weak men" analogy may be useful. A lot of real-world cases where I consider "weak men" to be used aren't in arguments per se, but rather in how media frames and covers issues - it's what I would otherwise call "curation bias." In fact I think it's really a combination between confirmation bias and extrapolating very anecdotal evidence to large groups of people.