Why do some people engage in Strawman nonsense? [View all]

Despite the great risk of getting an 18th commandment bullshit call, this is probably worth mentioning.

Quite often the link to the published definition of what the strawman fallacy is doesn't seem to be resonating with a few here, so it's probably worth describing what it is and how it's anything but clever as the authors of strawman rhetoric seem to think.

The term refers to building a strawman and then burning it down. In other words the only thing you accomplished is destroying something of your own making.

The fallacy contains 4 basic steps:

1) State an argument
2) Falsely attribute said argument to your opponent(s)
3) Refute said argument
4) Pretend you refuted your opponent(s) argument

When dealing with someone who employs strawman nonsense, the best approach is simply to point out why their tactic is a strawman fallacy. Engaging in the strawman simply further validates it, at least in the mind of the employer of such intellectual dishonesty.