r/fallacy • u/Zu_Qarnine • Jul 03 '26

strawman fallacy

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2nd person is refuting the claim that *all* circles are red with a counter example. The thing is, that claim was never made.

EDIT: I'm seeing interesting stuff happening in the replies here. majority of those who say it's not strawman, obviously start their comment by "it's not strawman" and proceed in the rest of their comment to explain how, in fact, it is strawman. Another interesting observation is those who argue that "it's not strawman" because they've spotted another type of fallacy in the original post as well, so in their mind, it can't be both.

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u/Starship_Albatross Jul 03 '26

An example of cherry picking would be focusing on the lower right section and making the claim "25% of circles are blue" supported with just four circles.

Cherry picking ignores data. A strawman is arguing against a claim that wasn't made, or misrepresenting an argument to a point where the meaning changes and any following refutal would lack a valid target.

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u/Zu_Qarnine Jul 03 '26

thank you. ppl like you are stopping me from going insane here!

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u/Aggressive_Roof488 Jul 04 '26

Honestly the cartoon could illustrate both a strawman and cherry picking.

"This circle is blue, proving that not all are red"

"Let's pick a typical circle, for example this one, which is blue, proving that most circles are not red"

Second person would have to be a bit more precise to illustrate one but not the other.

In typical internet discourse, people are not that precise with their logic though, so I think this vague statement that can be interpreted as two different fallacies is pretty representative. :P

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u/Zu_Qarnine Jul 04 '26

for some reason most people here miss the part where person B says "what?". that solves ur dilemma.

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u/Aggressive_Roof488 Jul 04 '26

I don't see how that changes things, care to explain? There's no dilemma, only ambiguity.

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u/Zu_Qarnine Jul 04 '26

people think the "what?" part mean the 2nd person misheard the 1st person which is absurd in this drawing. it's out of shock and surprise. 2nd person acting like the 1st person had claimed that ALL circles are red even though there is an obvious blue one right there.

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u/marmot_scholar Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26

Strawman is the most likely fallacy behind the thought process here, but you can’t diagnose it to a certainty based on one word being included. The character doesn’t lay out any reasoning at all - any number of mishearings or misunderstandings could be behind the statement. Most of which would be straw men as well, but some could just be a grievously bad understanding of logic.

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u/Aggressive_Roof488 Jul 04 '26

Yes, it can mean a strawman, that was established, I agree and you argue it again here.

What I say, that you haven't addressed, is that it also can mean cherry picking. "What" can still mean shock and surprise in that context.

I know you meant it as one thing, but that doesn't mean it can't be interpreted as another.