There is a strange interdependence between
thoughtlessness and evil.
thoughtlessness and evil.
— Hannah Arendt
I'm tired of Conservatives' relentless use of the strawman.
A "strawman" is an argument that substitutes an opponent's statement with a distortion thereof, in order to "disprove" it.
A strawman is fallacious. It takes its form in this manner:
Liberal: Black lives matter.
Conservative: My opponent says Black lives matter, but White lives don't. I'm sorry, all lives matter. He's dead wrong.
The Conservative in this case has distorted the Liberal's claim by assuming (1) it excludes all lives but Blacks' and (2) that to "matter" means to "prevail."
A "steelman" is an iron-clad argument. It makes the strongest possible case for a claim and prevents your opponent from distorting your position.
It might take this form:
Liberal: Blacks suffer from systemic racism in this country. Our entire way of life devalues Black lives, and puts Blacks at a material disadvantage—socially, economically, and politically. Without conscious effort, we thwart Blacks' attempts to live peacefully and well, and treat them as if their God-given lives didn't matter. But, in their own eyes at least, they do matter.
Conservative: So, you're saying the system is rigged?
Liberal: Bingo!
A steelman grants the opponent the benefit of the doubt and assumes his intentions aren't evil.
Sadly, that's not always the case. And so you often hear debates like this:
Conservative: Blacks don't suffer racism—that's ancient history. They just want preferential treatment. The whole idea that there's systemic racism is Marxist hogwash.
Telegraphic counterarguments like the one above betray both the evil intentions and shallow-mindedness of their makers, two common qualities of Conservatives today; qualities that put persuasion out of reach.
As philosopher John Stuart Mill said, "He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of it."
