A Word from Bob
With permission of biblical counselor Joseph Leavell, I am re-posting Joe’s Twitter/X thread on straw-man arguments.
As soon as I read this, I replied to Joe on Twitter/X with:
“Spot on! 100%! On fire!”
A Word from Joe
“Short thread on how to build a persuasive straw-man argument in our culture:
- Step 1: Claim that your opponent changed something people would hold sacred.
- Step 2: Restate your opponent’s new position in the most uncharitable way that doesn’t reflect what anyone believes.
- Step 3: Logically tear to shreds those definitions and the subsequent character of your opponent and their position you just invented.
- Step 4: Create an offensive and memorable persona/caricature of your opponent and their positions that is catchy and/or humorous.
- Step 5: When your opponent or their supporters object to the inaccurate critique, state that they are either ignorant or secretly hold to the position themselves.
- Step 6: When I’m roundly rebuked, I claim persecution and that I’m the only one willing to fight for the truth.”
Another Word from Bob
Joe prefaced his comments by relating these six steps generically to “our culture.”
I will be even more specific than Joe. I believe these six false steps or mis-steps relate to our current biblical counseling culture where we see some biblical counselors building straw-man arguments against fellow biblical counselors.
