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There is no straw man here, as the article says the "do-gooders do everything they can to raise energy costs"; the article does NOT say 'do-gooders try to raise
by nickff 13y ago
There is no straw man here, as the article says the "do-gooders do everything they can to raise energy costs"; the article does NOT say 'do-gooders try to raise energy costs' or 'do-gooders want to raise energy costs', which would indeed be a straw man. The article is arguing that the "do-gooders" raise the price of energy, which has a disproportionately negative impact on the poor; it does not say anything about their motives. If you disagree with the argument, you should refute it with evidence.
- tehwalrus 13y agothe idiom "do everything [one] can to..." clearly means both "try to" and "want to". Indeed, even if you get rid of the hyperbolic "everything [one] can to", you're left with just "do", which is a superset of "try to" (although not "want to").
- nickff 13y ago'do' is not a superset of 'try', unless every outcome was desired from the outset. e.g. I 'do' create software bugs, but I to neither 'try to' nor 'want to' create software bugs.
- tehwalrus 13y agoTrue, apologies, but my main point about the idiom still stands - it means to strive for, which means both wanting and trying.