Unknown Warsie Attack

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AdmiralKanos
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Unknown Warsie Attack

Post by AdmiralKanos »

The Timothy Jones FAQ makes reference to his infamous "unknown Warsie attack", where he accuses you of saying things you've never said, and when challenged, claims that they're common Warsie arguments (without giving a name for this "unknown Warsie", of course).

As on the earlier "Name of Fallacy" thread, I'm curious about what name one would put to this fallacy. It's clearly a strawman, but it's a particular variation of the strawman; sort of a combined Hasty Generalization/Strawman fallacy. He generates a strawman, doesn't even bother attributing it to a particular person, and then expects all members of a particular group to defend that strawman.

How common is this fallacy? After being falsely accused of saying that no one is moral except for atheists (the "unknown atheist" attack?), it occurs to me that it is probably quite common indeed.
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Durandal
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Post by Durandal »

I'd call it "The Phantom Strawman" or possibly "The Phantom Menace." :)
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Post by Doomriser »

The "Hopeful Strawman"

The "Magnetic Strawman"

The "Strawman Vaccuum"

Could someone please post an example of this chimera strawman as I may be then able to determine how common it is?
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Post by Master of Ossus »

When he has said that, it usually means that he is attempting to second-guess his opponenets and their next moves in the debates. Unfortunately for him, he is no where near smart enough to be able to pull that off, so his "counter-arguments" for "common Warsie attacks" make him look smart because he is able to beat up on arguments like the ones he usually comes up with. Since his "common warsie arguments" are as stupid as his, he can easily defeat them if he thinks about them for a little while.
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Post by His Divine Shadow »

Why not call it "A dumb fucking sonofabitch's desperate attempt at avoiding the furnace"?

Tarish take him! :mrgreen:
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