Line #10 Main/TheWarOnStraw


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_war_on_blackberry_juice.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:[[https://www.deviantart.com/kevinbolk/art/The-Straw-Man-Argument-202024841 The Straw Man Argument]] by [[https://www.deviantart.com/kevinbolk kevinbolk]]]]
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9
10	->'''Man #1''': You really shouldn't be making strawman agruments.\
11	'''Man #2''': Oh? Then I guess we should just ''not have arguments at all''!
12	-->-- ''Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal''
13
14	You've set out making your latest work with the intention to speak your piece on some contested issue, but you've found it's harder than you expected. You have to write both sides of the issue, after all, and that means fairly representing the other side of the argument. What if you're not entirely clear on what the other side ''is''?
15
16	Simple: declare war on straw! You're the writer, aren't you? You control what the "other side" has to say. All you need to do is present the opposing position as a laughable shadow of its true self and you can easily knock it over. You'll always be the winner! Everybody loves a winner. Bonus points if the opposing side is violently murdered afterwards (with the killer [[KarmaHoudini never being punished]], naturally, because why would you ever punish someone who's ''right''?).
17
18	Some of the tropes here are not strawmen every time they appear; for instance, a CorruptChurch, AnimalWrongsGroup, or AmoralAttorney can sometimes be used as a villain a la AcceptableTargets [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic without any (deliberate) intention]] of making a larger political statement. Sometimes people use those things with the justification that [[PoesLaw they do exist in reality]] to a limited extent -- but they are still strawmen when used, implicitly or explicitly, [[AssociationFallacy to try to make a larger argument against anyone who shares their beliefs]] (especially if they happen to be particularly extreme and/or [[DontShootTheMessage alienating to even other people who]] ''[[DontShootTheMessage do]]'' [[DontShootTheMessage share them but are decidedly more moderate about the topic in question]]).
19
20	Sometimes the existence of non-corrupt/wrong/amoral versions is acknowledged in the setting to indicate that there's no hard feelings; on the other hand, sometimes those good versions are really a FoxNewsLiberal used to try to make an actual strawman less obvious.
21
22	It is also important to note that ''caricature'', [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools itself, can be a perfectly valid way to make an argument]]; Voltaire, Swift, and many other writers have used it effectively and incisively against their opponents. The distinction is that valid caricatures use exaggeration and hyperbole as rhetorical devices to present nonetheless legitimate arguments, exposing the victim's failings and flaws without misrepresenting them. But the line between the two can be extremely thin, especially in unskilled hands or when the author does not truly understand what they are trying to caricature; many authors have produced strawmen that were painfully obvious to others while believing themselves to be penning biting Swiftian satire.
23
24	For more detail about the fallacy upon which this series of tropes is named, see the "Strawman Fallacy" section of UsefulNotes/LogicalFallacies.
25
26	The flip side (where a position is so off-the-wall that it's impossible to distinguish between a genuine statement and an exaggeration/parody) is PoesLaw. The actual inverse is sometimes referred to as '''steelmanning''', where a debater attacks the ''strongest'' possible interpretation of their opponent's argument (in essence, an armor-plated strawman), even if it is not the argument they necessarily made. This is often used against evasive "guerrilla debaters" who attempt to avoid actually presenting their own arguments, in the hope of constantly taking shots at their opponent without having to defend their own position.
27
28	A related fallacy is called nutpicking, a portmanteau word of "nut" and "cherry picking." Nutpicking is selecting a few extreme, easily attacked members of a group and dishonestly holding them up as typical members of that group.
29
30	If you are a content creator, a way to avoid attacking a straw man is to study what the other side says, and why, well enough to pass an [[https://www.econlib.org/archives/2011/06/the_ideological.html ideological Turing test]] as a member of the other side.
31
32	When you fought the straw and the straw won (in the opinion of your readers/viewers), it's StrawmanHasAPoint.
33	-----
34	!!The War On Straw has many fronts; among them are:
35	[[index]]
36	[floatboxright:
37	'''Main trope:'''
38	* StrawCharacter
39
40	'''Related indexes:'''
41	* AcceptableTargets
42	]
43	* AgentScully: Used to portray skeptics, scientists and other people who don't believe in god(s)/magic/the paranormal as closed-minded and dogmatic.
44	* TheAggressiveDrugDealer: The writer demonizes drug dealers, and even advocates, portraying them as monsters who want to get your children addicted, through intimidation or violence if necessary.
45	* AllIssuesArePoliticalIssues: Can be used against any political ideology.
46	* AmbulanceChaser: When the strawmen are portrayed as InUniverse unacceptable targets.
47	* AmoralAttorney: Lawyers are depicted as slimy and untrustworthy due to the nature of their job (which usually involves defending unscrupulous clients).
48	* AngryWhiteMan: When used to portray/generalize a majority as ignorant towards the suffering of historically oppressed minorities.
49	* AnimalWrongsGroup: Portrays advocates of animal rights as uncaring towards human lives.
50	* AntiRoleModel: In order to discourage kids from doing something perceived as bad, the writer portrays a character who does said bad things in the worst possible light, ignoring anything remotely good about it.
51	* AssimilationAcademy: Schools are portrayed as soul-sucking institutions designed to remove the personality of their students and mould everyone into being completely identical drones with no will to stand up to corrupt authority.
52	* BeliefMakesYouStupid: A work with an anti-religious slant portrays believing in the existence of deities as committing intellectual suicide.
53	* BerserkButton: The opponent is easily offended by something trivial.
54	* BlondeRepublicanSexKitten: Women with conservative values are portrayed as young, attractive, fit and blonde to combat the stereotype that conservatives mostly consist of men from the baby boomer generation.
55	* BombThrowingAnarchists: For OrderVsChaos stories where people on the chaos side are portrayed as AxCrazy and unsympathetic.
56	* CategoryTraitor: When the writer creates the false idea that anybody from a group of people who doesn't follow the same beliefs as that group is betraying them.
57	* CorruptChurch: If that trope is used to portray a real-world religion or religious institution, or an obvious {{Expy}} of one.
58	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Frequently, when one of these appears in fictionland, it's to either be, or set up, a strawman.
59	* CrapSaccharineWorld: In a similar vein but instead everyone except the characters who are in the right benefit from this setting.
60	* CrapSackWorld: Often a society in which everything the writer is against has taken over.
61	* CruellaToAnimals: Writing anyone who uses animal products of any kind as if they actually take pleasure in animals dying.
62	* DeconstructionFic: If it ends up turning into a RevengeFic against particular characters.
63	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: When presented in an {{Anvilicious}} way.
64	* {{Demonization}}: When the strawman is not only wrong but evil too.
65	* DesignatedEvil: The writer decides that a character's action is bad without much thought as to why.
66	* DesignatedHero: Happens when the character we're expected to side with fails to give reasons why we should think they're right.
67	* DesignatedVillain: The only reason this character is demonized is because they disagreed with the protagonist.
68	* DryCrusader: When this character is in the right, everyone who drinks alcohol is considered to be worse than the Devil. Can also be used to assume that anyone who refrains from alcohol acts this way towards drinkers.
69	* {{Dystopia}}: Not always straw, but straw is a frequent component.
70	* EasyEvangelism: The strawman has never considered the opposing view and immediately converts once they hear an explanation.
71	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Making the villain object to the strawman's point, implying that you are worse than the villain for agreeing with the strawman. The villain is usually made unforgivable to both sides in order to emphasise this.
72	* ExecutiveExcess: The portrayal of business executives as hedonistic and wasteful, to the point that they're rarely seen actually putting in a full day of work, sometimes as a criticism of the corporate lifestyle or capitalism in general.
73	* FamilyValuesVillain: If combined with the HeteronormativeCrusader.
74	* FalseDichotomy: Two fronts for the price of one!
75	* FlatEarthAtheist: Portraying atheism as being out of touch with reality.
76	* ForScience: Depicting scientists as willing to do anything (usually immoral) for no practical purpose.
77	* FoxNewsLiberal and its counterpart, the MSNBC Conservative: If the author fails to present opposing views properly, thus creating an echo chamber.
78	* TheFundamentalist: Can be used to portray a religious stereotype.
79	* FurAndLoathing: To make someone look bad just by what they are wearing.
80	* GayConservative: When used to imply that one cannot be politically conservative and homosexual at the same time or to assume all openly homophobic conservatives are [[ArmoredClosetGay secretly gay]].
81	* GodwinsLaw: Comparing anything you don't like with [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler one of the worst dictators in human history]].
82	* GoldenMeanFallacy: To declare that both sides are extreme and the "correct" side is somewhere in the middle. The fallacy can be used to strawman anyone who tries to find a middle ground, regardless of how reasonable they are.
83	* GoodIsDumb: Portrays {{goodness\|Tropes}} and {{idealism\|Tropes}} as utterly moronic and out of touch with life.
84	* GreedyJew: When Jews are conspiring against Western Civilization. Or if not that, when they're written as amoral, monetarily greedy and generally unpleasant people.
85	* HateFic: Often transforms the cast of the attacked show into unsympathetic caricatures.
86	* HateSink: The author creates the strawman to attract hate to promote a point.
87	* TheHedonist: Those who live pleasure seeking lifestyles are portrayed as self-centered and materialistic.
88	* HeteronormativeCrusader: Can either crop up in {{Slash Fic}}s where a character is hit by RonTheDeathEater, {{Gay Aesop}}s via CompressedVice, or CureYourGays stories where this character is the one who's right.
89	* HolierThanThou: When being a Christian (or in some cases religious more generally) tends to mean a character is a jerk, if not an outright evil hypocrite.
90	* HollywoodAtheist: Portraying people who don't believe in god(s) as immoral, miserable, or venomous towards believers.
91	* HollywoodSatanism: Likely to be used against religions that are not fundamentalist Christianity.
92	* HuntingIsEvil: Hunters are a target of strawmen.
93	* InformedWrongness: The Strawman is in the wrong for weak reasons.
94	* InternalAffairs: The higher-ups for police forces are portrayed as corrupt.
95	* InternalRetcon: Crops up in works that promote denialism.
96	* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Insisting that doing one morally ambiguous thing leads to a life of crime.
97	* LadyLand: You have two options: You have a {{Utopia}}, or a {{Dystopia}}. Either way, strawmen are a ''very'' frequent feature. (There are a few non-straw examples of this trope, though. Just note that most versions of LadyLand are somewhere between 60% and 90% straw by volume.)
98	* LawfulStupidChaoticStupid: For a series where BothOrderAndChaosAreDangerous.
99	* LonersAreFreaks: Anyone who isn't a people person can only have something suspicious to hide. Why else would they stay away from any company?
100	* MadonnaWhoreComplex: The idea that virginal, modest women are pure and perfect and thus deserving of a HappilyEverAfter with TheProtagonist, and women who aren't virgins or don't dress or behave a certain way are irredeemably evil and deserving of violence, if not death.
101	* MalcolmXerox: Portraying a left-leaning black man in a work as a paranoid loon that thinks "the white man" is out to get him.
102	* NewMediaAreEvil: Portraying newer technologies as inherently evil, [[FullCircleRevolution even though Old Media started out as a NEW media in its time]].
103	* TheNewRockAndRoll: Used by more paranoid writers when attacking new fads and ideas they don't understand.
104	* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: When [[RefugeInAudacity the Strawman in question is an honest representation]]. Can sometimes become a more typical example if the specific Strawman is a fringe part of the targeted group but the author acts as if they represent the entire demographic for the sake of fighting an easy target (see discussion of nutpicking above), or if the Strawman's "not made up" words are [[ManipulativeEditing twisted out of context]].
105	* NoMereWindmill: For stories where the protagonist is dismissed as crazy but is actually right all along.
106	* NoWomansLand: When used to demonize a nation that isn't as progressive in women's rights as one's own.
107	* OldMediaAreEvil: The opposite of NewMediaAreEvil, portraying older "traditional media" as outdated and untrustworthy.
108	* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: When used [[AuthorTract as a way for the author to say]] religion is evil/encumbering on society.
109	* OutsideJoke: A joke based on a misrepresentation or misunderstanding of the subject.
110	* ParodyReligion: Often takes the form of several religions lumped together regardless if they have anything in common.
111	* PathOfInspiration: Same as CorruptChurch.
112	* PoesLaw: When a strawman is mistaken for the real thing, or vice versa.
113	* PoliticalCorrectnessIsEvil: Social justice activists are easier to attack if you caricature them into prissy pricks who make mountains out of molehills. It's even easier if they come from privileged backgrounds.
114	* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: When used to portray a strawman as a flawed hero to promote them in a negative light.
115	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: When used to portray a strawman as an evil bigot for the heroes to destroy.
116	* PoliticallyMotivatedTeacher: In its most basic form.
117	* PoliticalOvercorrectness: Political correctness is PlayedForLaughs by exaggerating it to the point of absurdity.
118	* PompousPoliticalPundit: Used to potshot prominent news reporters that don't share one's political beliefs.
119	* ThePresentsWereNeverFromSanta: When the trope is used to dismiss authority and undermine legitimacy.
120	* RevengeFic: Canon characters are transformed into strawmen.
121	* RevolutionariesWhoDontDoAnything: Can be used to show certain political groups as ineffectual or to imply that those who claim to belong to these groups don't actually intend to do anything.
122	* RonTheDeathEater: {{Demonization}} applies to a canonical hero for their flaws and/or evil sides.
123	* ScareEmStraight: Things that the writer opposes are portrayed as having horrible consequences if one does/associates with them.
124	* SchoolIsForLosers: Characters who disagree with/aren't interested in basic public education are presented as idiots.
125	* SubParSupremacist: Character claims a group they're a part of is better than others while failing to exhibit any of that group's traits.
126	* StrawAffiliation: In the same vein as CategoryTraitor, people who are a part of a certain group are portrayed as not being allowed to endorse things that are typically not associated with them (e.g., gays and women can't be conservative).
127	* StrawCivilian: In a military-focused work, any and all non-military characters are shown as being actively hostile towards soldiers.
128	* StrawCritic: Media critics are portrayed as snooty and uptight. Often used by writers who can't take criticism.
129	* StrawFan: Used to caricature the worst aspects of one's fanbase, all too often to dismiss any criticisms said fanbase has for the author's work.
130	* StrawFeminist: Assumes that feminism is inherently hostile towards men.
131	* StrawHypocrite: The {{hypocrite}} doesn't even believe what they preach; as with AmoralAttorney or CorruptChurch, not ''always'' a subtrope of the War on Straw, but a frequent one nevertheless.
132	* StrawLoser: Characters who don't conform to what the writer believes or thinks is awesome often get portrayed as deserving of ridicule.
133	* StrawmanEmotional: The writer treats characters who act on their emotions as irrational.
134	* StrawmanHasAPoint: What happens when bad writing or authorial myopia creates a front in the War on Straw that the author actually has a chance of losing.
135	* StrawmanNewsMedia: News media are almost ''never'' portrayed as being trustworthy in fiction.
136	* StrawmanProduct: Promulgating a false image of another product.
137	* StrawmanU: Certain types of schools are portrayed as attracting people who are politically opposite of the writer.
138	* StrawMisogynist: A particularly {{Anvilicious}} portrayal of HeManWomanHater characters.
139	* StrawNihilist: Those with nihilistic views get {{Flanderiz\|ation}}ed as using this to justify acts of villainy.
140	* StrawVegetarian: Vegetarians and vegans are portrayed as intolerant of meat eaters and actively try to force their dietary ways on others.
141	* StrawVulcan: The writer treats people who are logical thinkers as cold and emotionless.
142	* StrawmanBall: The author's opposing ideas are passed between different characters, usually similar to FlipFlopOfGod.
143	* TheoryTunnelVision: When the writer is convinced that their opponents won't accept their views even when they're proven to be correct.
144	* ThereAreNoGoodExecutives: Businesspeople are all greedy jackasses within the setting.
145	* ThisLoserIsYou: A negatively portrayed protagonist meant to represent the audience. Not always a strawman, but it can often come off that way if the writer assumes too much about their audience.
146	* TooIncompetentToOperateABlanket: To make a product appealing, advertisers portray people who aren't using the product as incompetent morons who can't even do the simplest tasks without it.
147	* WideEyedIdealist: Essentially a strawman version of TheIdealist.
148	* WindmillCrusader: What the writer comes off as if the opponents they're railing against aren't even an actual threat.
149	* WindmillPolitical: The writer tries to convince their audience that what they're attacking is a threat when it really isn't.
150	[[/index]]
151	----

Context Main / TheWarOnStraw