Temperantlam, argumentum ad 157It is standard practice at elections to choose the most foolish
or ignorant spokesman for the other side to deal with, as well as
to fabricate extremists who can be felled with a scornful half-line.
How can we support the Democrats when one of their own union backers
publicly advocates a 'worker state' like Soviet Russia was?
(Biff! Bam! And another straw man bites the dust. Union leaders on one
side, like businessmen on the other side, can be politically naïve, and
make much better targets than the slippery eels who lead the parties.)Historically, the role of the straw man has been to show the
dangers of change. A handful of reformers or radicals advocating
greater liberty or greater tolerance have been trampled to death
by legion upon legion of straw men in serried ranks calling for
anarchy, licence, the destruction of society and the slaughter of
the innocents.
Use of the straw man is fun. Everyone needs a victory or two
for purposes of morale. If real ones are nowhere to be had, then
walloping the occasional straw man can be most invigorating. In
addition to the advice already given, you would be wise to con-
struct and demolish your straw man, wherever possible, after your
opponent has uttered his last word on the subject. Your straw
man looks pretty silly lying in the dust if your adversary is there to
disown him. If your opponent is absent, or has finished his piece,
there will be no one to deny that the crumpled figure lying at
your feet is indeed the opponent you were facing, rather than a
dried-grass dummy, hastily fabricated to take the fall in his place.
Temperantlam, argumentum adIf fallacies were assigned to the nations of the world, the argu-
mentum ad temperantlam would be allocated to England. It is the