History Main / StrawVulcan

* ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}'' parodies an instance of this from ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' in [[http://shortpacked.com/comic/book-9/09-grand-reopening/ripcord/ this strip]].

* Happened more than once in ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', where Spock often was the literal Straw Vulcan.

** That sounds stupid, yet if that is commen held state of mind among fictional characters, this would explain many cases of Idiot Ball among romantic comedies.

* The StrawVulcan is LiteralMinded. Note that the idea that an "intelligent" character wouldn't "get" the concept of metaphors, idioms or sarcasm isn't very logical.
* The StrawVulcan [[AgentScully cannot believe in the paranormal]]. Logical enough in RealLife, where the existence of such forces are debated, but this can lead to such characters coming off as being [[FlatEarthAtheist blind or in denial]] if they live in a universe where such things are shown to be real.
* The StrawVulcan will often commit the FallacyFallacy, dismissing a conclusion simply because it was based on invalid logic or on emotion. While the fact that an argument contains a fallacy is grounds for dismissing an argument, it does not prove that the conclusion is wrong.

* Related to the PerfectSolutionFallacy: The StrawVulcan will proceed to disturb everyone with doomsaying that their current plan "only has a 10% chance for us to succeed", and then the emotional protagonist proceeds to disprove him by saying "NeverTellMeTheOdds" and succeeding. Actually, when all other options are depleted, the plan that has a 10% chance of success is logically superior to other courses of action that have less chance of success. (And presumably doing nothing means a 0% chance) Bothering people with remarks about low chances of success in critical situations may degrade their morale and thus further diminish said chances, so it doesn't make logical sense to quote poor odds unless there's a better option that can be taken. Pessimism for pessimism's sake in a time of need simply isn't logical, no need to be the sensitive guy of the cast to figure ''that'' out.

* In ''{{Logicomix}}'', Ferge is totally honest and devoted to truth & logic. Sadly, this devotion combined with IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance leads to BlackAndWhiteInsanity in the form of a StrawVulcan despise for women and jews. On the whole, this make him a TroubledSympatheticBigot who is desperately trying to do the right thing.

** Tuvok on ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'' often acted as a StrawVulcan.

** While T'Pol is probably the queen of all {{Straw Vulcan}}s, she's also [[TheStrawmanStrikesBack often proved completely right]] for [[IdiotPlot all of the wrong reasons]]. For example, in an early episode, the crew discovers an uncharted Earth-Like planet. T'Pol mentions that standard Vulcan protocol for such an event is to scan the planet from orbit for a week before sending people down in person. Archer basically ignores her, because he wants to go down and explore in person, and immediately sends a team down not equipped with any kind of protective suits. The entire conflict of the episode (which almost results in deaths) comes from the fact that the air contains hallucinogens, which is something that would have been discovered if they spent time to scan the planet first.

** One of the plans for the fifth season ([[WhatCouldHaveBeen had there been one]]), was to reveal that T'Pol's father was a Romulan spy, which would go a long way towards explaining her StrawVulcan tendencies in the earlier seasons.

* ''JoanOfArcadia'' defeated the best chess player in the school, despite not knowing how to play chess. Apparently, logic and order is unable to [[SchrodingerFu detect a potential checkmate from chaos that does unpredictable moves]].

* Parodied by ''Series/TheColbertReport,'' where Creator/StephenColbert's character often sets up the "liberal elite" as a StrawVulcan. In case you've been living under a rock and don't know this already, we aren't supposed to agree with Colbert's character; the character himself is the real Stephen's StrawmanPolitical. The fallacy of using a straw vulcan highlights both his own lack of logic and the brilliance of the supposed straw vulcan. Which means that by lampshading it, he's both averted ''and'' inverted the trope!
* Nick Stokes of ''Series/{{CSI}}'' can make his co-workers look like {{Straw Vulcan}}s as he is generally more concerned than his co-workers with establishing rapport with the victim's family and keeping the human dynamics of a case in mind. He's not a better CSI per se because of this but he's more suited to the parts of the job the police academy doesn't train you for; giving reassurance to the victim's family and reaching out to reluctant witnesses.

** Somewhat justified, as newbies have been known to beat experts with years of experience in lots of things just through sheer dumb luck and unpredictability. (Or in Trope Terms high end level of chess play can result in IKnowYouKnowIKnow when it comes to long term strategy but when TheFool plays against them it destroys all of there plans.)

** Somewhat justified, as newbies have been known to beat experts with years of experience in lots of things just through sheer dumb luck and unpredictability.

For example, if you love someone, then it ''logically follows'' that you would place a higher priority on saving that person than random strangers you don't know. This is a logical consequence of an emotional sentiment. The false dichotomy inherent to this trope, however, would oversimplify by having saving the loved one as the "emotional" choice, with saving everyone else as the "logical."

* Played truly bizarrely in one route of ''ZeroEscape VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', where Phi, in discussing the Prisoner's Dilemma and Ambidex Game continually refers to "Betray" as the "logical" and "rational" decision... despite going in depth on how it's sub-optimal for both the group and the individual, meaning that it's ''illogical'' and ''irrational'' by real-world rather than Straw Vulcan definitions of logic, unless for some reason you were applying logic with the goal of "Make the least advantageous decision."

* Played truly bizarrely in one route of ''VisualNovel/ZeroEscape VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', where Phi, in discussing the Prisoner's Dilemma and Ambidex Game continually refers to "Betray" as the "logical" and "rational" decision... despite going in depth on how it's sub-optimal for both the group and the individual, meaning that it's ''illogical'' and ''irrational'' by real-world rather than Straw Vulcan definitions of logic, unless for some reason you were applying logic with the goal of "Make the least advantageous decision."

* Played truly bizarrely in one route of ''VideoGame/ZeroEscape VideoGame/VirtuesLastReward'', where Phi, in discussing the Prisoner's Dilemma and Ambidex Game continually refers to "Betray" as the "logical" and "rational" decision... despite going in depth on how it's sub-optimal for both the group and the individual, meaning that it's ''illogical'' and ''irrational'' by real-world rather than Straw Vulcan definitions of logic, unless for some reason you were applying logic with the goal of "Make the least advantageous decision."

* Played truly bizarrely in one route of ''VideoGame/ZeroEscapeVirtuesLastReward'', where Phi, in discussing the Prisoner's Dilemma and Ambidex Game continually refers to "Betray" as the "logical" and "rational" decision... despite going in depth on how it's sub-optimal for both the group and the individual, meaning that it's ''illogical'' and ''irrational'' by real-world rather than Straw Vulcan definitions of logic, unless for some reason you were applying logic with the goal of "Make the least advantageous decision."

*** It's cruelly subverted, however, in a ''Series/DoctorWho'' comic strip, in which an army of invading Cybermen are confronted by a military leader who tells tham that, for all their claims of logical superiority, the emotional strength of the humans they are facing will defeat them. The Cyberleader's response is to douse everyone present with a hallucinogenic agent that sends all of the humans into complete emotional breakdown. Completely crushed and driven half-insane, the humans present ''beg'' to be converted into Cybermen; against such a weapon, emotion really ''is'' a weakness.

* Dr. Perceptron in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is utterly crippled as a psychoanalist by his adherence to "logic". For example, he ignored Fry's claims of humanity solely because he was in an institution for robots, thus meaning he was clearly a robot.

* The StrawVulcan [[AgentScully cannot believe in the paranormal]]. Logical enough in RealLife, where the existence of such forces are debated, but this can lead to such characters coming off as being [[FlatEarthAthiest blind or in denial]] if they live in a universe where such things are shown to be real.

* The StrawVulcan is LiteralMinded.
* The StrawVulcan [[AgentScully cannot believe in the paranormal]].

* Related to the PerfectSolutionFallacy: The StrawVulcan will proceed to disturb everyone with doomsaying that their current plan "only has a 10% chance for us to succeed", and then the emotional protagonist proceeds to disprove him by saying "NeverTellMeTheOdds" and then succeeding. Actually, when all other options are depleted, the plan that has a 10% chance of success is logically superior to other courses of action that have less or 0% chance of success. Bothering people with remarks about low chances of success in critical situations may degrade their morale and thus further diminish said chances, so it doesn't make logical sense to quote a low chance of success unless there's a better option that can be taken. Pessimism for pessimism's sake in a a time of need simply isn't logical, no need to be the sensitive guy of the cast to figure ''that'' out.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'', "Destiny of the Daleks", has the Daleks and Movellans, two "perfectly logical" races, at war in a perpetual stalemate because neither of them, each knowing the other will anticipate and compensate for their logical strategies, can find the best time to attack. This is possible if there's a ColdWar-type mutually assured destruction, but it's written as Straw Vulcan "logic", including the "logical" computers not accepting short term losses (losing some soldiers) and not accepting other than a guaranteed success (this troper calls it "Density of the Daleks" for this reason, though that shouldn't be taken to imply the Movellans are any better). The groups want Davros and the Doctor respectively to use illogic to help them win, and Davros eventually orders some Daleks to sacrifice themselves to destroy the Movellan ship. The story ends with AnAesop about making mistakes leading to winning.

* Related to the PerfectSolutionFallacy: The StrawVulcan will proceed to disturb everyone with doomsaying that their current plan "only has a 10% chance for us to succeed", and then the emotional protagonist proceeds to disprove him by saying "NeverTellMeTheOdds" and then succeeding. Actually, when all other options are depleted, the plan that has a 10% chance of success is logically superior to other courses of action if they have 0% chance of success. Bothering people with remarks about low chances of success in critical situations may degrade their morale and thus further diminish said chances, so it doesn't make logical sense to quote a low chance of success unless there's a better option that can be taken. Pessimism for pessimism's sake in a a time of need simply isn't logical, no need to be the sensitive guy of the cast to figure ''that'' out.
* In general, Straw Vulcans will be TheCynic and consider [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids the more idealistic choice as illogical and improbable]], even though there's no direct logical connection between logic and pessimism. While many logicians are human and can be driven cynical (especially when they're the OnlySaneMan or are logically justified by a painful life), logic itself does not lean on either side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.

* Related to the PerfectSolutionFallacy: The StrawVulcan will proceed to disturb everyone with doomsaying that their currently plan "only has a 10% chance for us to succeed". Actually, when all other options are depleted, the plan that has a 10% chance of success is logically superior to other courses of action, which presumably have 0% chance of success. Bothering people with remarks about low chances of success in critical situations may degrade their morale and thus further diminish said chances, so it doesn't make logical sense to quote a low chance of success unless there's a better option that can be taken. Pessimism for pessimism's sake in a a time of need simply isn't logical, no need to be the sensitive guy of the cast to figure ''that'' out.
* In general, Straw Vulcans will be TheCynic and consider [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids the more idealistic choice as illogical and improbable]], even though there's no direct logical connection between logic and pessimism. While many logicians are human and can be driven cynical (especially when they're the OnlySaneMan or are logically justified by having a painful life), logic itself does not lean on either side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism.

* The story assumes a "logical" plan is one where every step makes the goal visibly closer, and accepting a short-term disadvantage for a long-term advantage is not "logical". There's nothing inherently illogical in accepting a short-term set-back if it makes the long-term success more likely. (This is in fact studied in algorithmics: a step that visibly takes you closer to the goal may eventually run you into a dead end if you don't consider alternatives.)
* The Straw Vulcan will be completely unable or unwilling to plan for unexpected and even illogical behavior from other parties.
** Perhaps the most common flaw of the Straw Vulcan is their inability to draw upon any knowledge which comes from being an emotional being. They seem unable to factor emotions, or any associated information, into their analysis; they are not so much "logical" beings as beings without a functional understanding of the nature of emotional processes.
* The Straw Vulcan assumes that self-sacrifice isn't "logical", even though there can easily be situations where self-sacrifice is "logical".
* The story assumes that anything which doesn't fit a particular mathematical model of logic isn't "logical".

* There's also the case where the emotional person suggests a course that shouldn't work, period, but the Straw Vulcan's ideas all involve some aspect that the "non-logical" character find objectionable. So Straw Vulcan is outvoted, they go with the dumb emotional plan, and lo, it works... due to sheer dumb luck. This is then lauded as a victory for emotion, when in fact it's a victory for the MillionToOneChance principle.
* The StrawVulcan will often commit the FallacyFallacy, dismissing a conclusion simply because it was based on invalid logic or on emotion. While the fact that an argument contains a fallacy is grounds for dismissing an argument, it does not prove that the conclusion is wrong.
* The StrawVulcan will proceed to disturb everyone with doomsaying that their currently plan "only has a 10% chance for us to succeed". Actually, when all other options are depleted, the plan that has a 10% chance of success is logically superior to other courses of action, which presumably have 0% chance of success. Bothering people with remarks about low chances of success in critical situations may degrade their morale and thus further diminish said chances, so it doesn't make logical sense to quote a low chance of success unless there's a better option that can be taken. Pessimism for pessimism's sake in a a time of need simply isn't logical, no need to be the sensitive guy of the cast to figure ''that'' out.

*** To be exact [[spoiler:V.I.K.I.]]'s motivations are logical for her premise, it's her premise/goal that is wrong. She is looking to save lives at all costs, if that is her goal then she took quasi-logical action (one could argue there was a much better way to go about the coup that wouldn't set up an us-vs-them mentality that would encourage humans to fight to the death. The problem is that most humans don't want to have maximum life at all costs. We would rather accept small risk if it means enjoyment, and we couldn't be happy in a world dictated by robots. If she had started out with the premise of "I must preserve human happiness" instead of "I must preserve human life" things would have been far different.

* ''JoanOfArcadia'' defeated the best chess player in the school, despite not knowing how to play chess. Apparently, logic and order is unable to detect a potential checkmate from chaos that does unpredictable moves.
** Somewhat justified, as newbies have been known to beat experts with years of experience in lots of things just through sheer dumb luck and unpredictability.

* The story assumes a "logical" plan is one where every step makes the goal visibly closer, and accepting a short-term disadvantage for a long-term advantage is not "logical". There's nothing inherently illogical in accepting a short-term set-back if it makes the long-term success more likely.