Straw Man Quotes

“Whenever we want to combat our enemies, first and foremost we must start by understanding them rather than exaggerating their motives.”
― Criss Jami, Killosophy

“When somebody summarizes an argument thoughtfully before offering a counterargument, the resulting debate tends to be more meaningful and productive. Much of what passes for argument in our society consists of people badly misrepresenting each other's arguments and responding to points that another person is not making. This inevitably leads to frustration and anger and a feeling of being rhetorically manipulated instead of honestly challenged. Correctly paraphrasing somebody's position makes it much harder to misrepresent that position while trying to argue against it.”
― Michael Austin, We Must Not Be Enemies: Restoring America's Civic Tradition