The Straw (Man) That Stirs The Drink...

Another Tiresome Trope

Having studied rhetoric and argumentation theory as my major in college, I am familiar with a wide variety of persuasive strategies and techniques, including some that are known to be specious. One such device that I seem to be running into more and more these days is the Straw Man Fallacy.

"Can you just leave me out of it, please? Thanks..."

It's actually pretty easy to spot this one. Your rhetorical adversary simply replaces whatever point you are actually trying to make with a wholly different point (typically a gross exaggeration and sometimes a completely irrelevant aspect of the topic being discussed), and proceeds to attack that point as if it were your point.


For instance, during a recent debate over the wisdom of raising the minimum wage (which I think is a bad idea), I was accused of thinking people should be forced to accept Third World slave wages. While discussing the utter failure of the Head Start program, I was charged with believing that poor and minority kids don't deserve an equal chance at getting an education. And, as an outspoken opponent of the Common Core State Standards Initiative (a VERY bad idea), I have encountered a veritable army of straw man arguments, including the claim that opposing Common Core means I don't care if kids learn in school. That accusation would strike my own former students as especially comical...

President Obama is VERY fond of this device, and uses it often. He has killed more straw men during his presidency than Daryl Dixon has killed walkers on The Walking Dead.

"Beatin' somethin' that ain't fightin' back don't prove shit, Mr. President."

I should also mention that there are efforts under way to change the designation to something gender-neutral like "straw person," or even non-anthropomorphic like "straw figure." I am amused by these efforts, but when I am around folks who prefer them I do my best to oblige. What matters is rejecting the fallacy itself, regardless of what we choose to call it. If more people could learn to do this, our national discourse would improve significantly...

"I think 'Straw Eat-Anter' sounds kind of catchy."

Of course you do...

A Joyful Noise

Since I have been introducing the members of my guitar "harem" here and there, I thought I might as well mention the amplifiers I use, too...

Because I am an apartment dweller, I need a practice amplifier that can produce a wide variety of tones at very low volumes. My Vox VT20+ does this job splendidly.

"Vera"

She is a modeling amplifier, and she can produce really nice results at VERY low volume. Perfect for what
I need. I bought her at Bob's Guitars, a cool shop in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where
I happened to be because I had a student performing in the annual
Iowa High School Speech Association All-State Festival, held at the University of Northern Iowa.

Things That Make Me Happy: Pitchers' Duel Edition

On the road last night in Minneapolis, my beloved Kansas City Royals ran their winning streak to three games with a tense 2-0 win over the Twins. Chris Young bounced back strongly from his previous two rocky starts (his only losses as a starter this season) to throw six hitless innings (the second start this season he's pitched at least five innings without allowing a hit) and lower his ERA to 2.25 (only three AL starters have lower ERAs). His 5-2 record ties Jason Vargas for the team lead in victories to this point in the season...

"My secret? I make funny faces to distract the hitters..."

The Royals will send Edinson Volquez (4-4, 3.26) to the mound as they go for the series sweep tonight, while the Twins will pitch Kyle Gibson (4-3, 3.00). Could be another tight, low-scoring game...

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

I have errands to run in Omaha today, which means I can take the opportunity to visit the Boston Market out near Westroads Mall. Great comfort food...and I deserve it!

Three piece dinner (dark meat)

"No cornbread???"

Of course there will be cornbread. I'm guessing whoever took the picture of that dinner ate theirs on the way to the table. I do that sometimes myself...

Until Next Time...

I try to get a vigorous walk in every day (2-3 miles), weather permitting. It helps if I listen to music on my iPod Touch (2nd Generation) as I walk, and of late I have been listening to a playlist of songs my hero Joe Bonamassa played on the last tour of his I saw about a year ago. This is the introductory instrumental to that playlist (he didn't actually play this song in the concerts I saw on that tour, but I liked it enough to add it anyway). Enjoy...