Fallacy:Attacking a strawman

A straw man is a form of argument and an informal fallacy.

It is when the party attempting to refute an argument, instead creates a new argument within their retort (usually superficial, non-sequitur or simple to refute) and goes on to rebut said replaced argument - avoiding the initial point altogether. This can be done through exaggeration, misrepresentation or complete fabrication of the persons argument into an absurdity.

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Person A presents argument: X

Person B distorts argument X into argument: Y

Person B refutes argument Y

Example:

"Oranges are my favourite fruit."

"You don't like grapes or strawberries? What about tangerines? They're similar. Limiting yourself to one fruit is ridiculous."