Tools: "Strawman"

24 March 2024

Dear Josiah,

Have you ever had “words put into your mouth” by an opponent?

It’s a deceitful way to win an argument. You attribute some distortion of the opponent’s position as if it were what he had espoused, and then easily refute it. That’s called a “strawman.”

Debaters resort to this trick when they have no recourse to a cogent argument, other than deception.

When I hear or read such, attacking positions I hold, it angers me. That part of the trick, too, because an angry man loses a bit of his own reason as emotion crowds it out. Here’s an actual quote from a recently published book that got me steamed: [1]

“Even a creationist recognizes, at some level, that the transition

from wolf to dog is an evolutionary process.”

Key elements of a strawman:

(1) A patronizing tone (calculated to rouse anger)

(2) A misuse of words (i.e., contrary to their normally understood meaning)

(3) A subtle introduction in the shift of the argument (i.e., to one more easily defended)

a. “Even” dismisses the legitimacy of the opponent

b. “Transition” implies a change from one species to another

c. “Evolution” since Darwin, has meant the species taking advantage of random mutations to gain a function advantageous to survival and not previously observed.

d. See Letter on Ideologues

The real issue for a Darwinist is to disallow any hint that a change in nature was designed (i.e., by God, an alien being, or any intelligence other than Man). BUT! Changing a wolf’s descent into chihuahua was done by selective breeding, NOT by evolution. In other words, an intelligence orchestrated it!

How familiar is the “evolutionary chart” depicting how tiny horses led to modern horses? [2] Note well, the morphology, biochemistry, and DNA did not evolve. The Eohippus is still recognizably a horse. The potential for “tweaking” was inherent in the DNA. Similar charts exist for dogs; but the origin of the species “horse” is not addressed.

Hey! Even a creationist can tell the difference between selective breeding and evolution! You can’t take the intelligence out of the design of life. See Behe on the principle of “irreducible complexity. [3]

1. Francis, Richard C., “Domesticated: Evolution in a man-made world,” Norton & Co, 2015.

2. Google it, it’s everywhere. The biggest change was in the shape of a hoof – no new organs. The chart of the dog’s evolution is even more representative - no changes to the basic design. And, mirabile dictu! No trace of a species before the dog or horse.

3. Behe, Michael, “Darwin’s Black Box,” Free Press 1996.

Loving you,

Grampa Jeff