But the nature of straw man arguments is that since you are not citing someone who’s actually making that argument, there’s also not any way to refute it. “Somene somewhere is making a bad argument” doesn’t really mean anything. (What’s extra ironic is that this is an ad hominem attack against no one in particular)
Its not a strawman unles the bad argument is being misrepresented. Just because you don’t care to look for examples for fear of what you may find doesn’t mean that anyone who hasn’t thrown them at you up-front is engaging in a logical fallacy.
Read the meme again. “Explaining why weighting (sp) 300 pounds is healthier than every other lifestyle”. Is someone actually arguing it’s healthier than literally every other lifestyle? Are they doing it without qualifications? Did they not use some sort of logic to support their position? Or is the maker of this meme making an overly simplistic representation of an imagined argument someone might make, specifically chosen because it’s easy to refute? That’s what a strawman argument is. And they’re not even using good logic to argue against this fictional claim!
It’s a straw man because the meme references the entire body positivity movement (on Twitter), while the statement it refutes is only argued by a select few.
I’d say it’s closer to the Dicto Simpliciter fallacy. Essentially, starting with an unqualified statement and extrapolating to a more general statement. Examples would be things like “Exercise is good, so everyone should exercise” or “Online members of a group said something, so all members of that group agree” or “High BMI is unhealthy, so all people with high BMI are unhealthy”
But the nature of straw man arguments is that since you are not citing someone who’s actually making that argument, there’s also not any way to refute it. “Somene somewhere is making a bad argument” doesn’t really mean anything. (What’s extra ironic is that this is an ad hominem attack against no one in particular)
Its not a strawman unles the bad argument is being misrepresented. Just because you don’t care to look for examples for fear of what you may find doesn’t mean that anyone who hasn’t thrown them at you up-front is engaging in a logical fallacy.
Read the meme again. “Explaining why weighting (sp) 300 pounds is healthier than every other lifestyle”. Is someone actually arguing it’s healthier than literally every other lifestyle? Are they doing it without qualifications? Did they not use some sort of logic to support their position? Or is the maker of this meme making an overly simplistic representation of an imagined argument someone might make, specifically chosen because it’s easy to refute? That’s what a strawman argument is. And they’re not even using good logic to argue against this fictional claim!
That being said,
yes, and
you’re way overestimating how much thought people put into making memes lol
It’s a straw man because the meme references the entire body positivity movement (on Twitter), while the statement it refutes is only argued by a select few.
I’d say it’s closer to the Dicto Simpliciter fallacy. Essentially, starting with an unqualified statement and extrapolating to a more general statement. Examples would be things like “Exercise is good, so everyone should exercise” or “Online members of a group said something, so all members of that group agree” or “High BMI is unhealthy, so all people with high BMI are unhealthy”
https://www.palomar.edu/users/bthompson/Secundum Quid.html#:~:text=Dicto Simpliciter - Secundum Quid&text=Description%3A,rule should be rejected altogether.