Strawman Arguments
It’s much easier to attack a made-up caricature of the enemy rather than taking the time to truly understand the nuance of their position.
Strawman arguments are when somebody intentionally misrepresents a position so it’s easier to argue against.
People can avoid any cognitive dissonance by avoiding the critical examination of the other side — and instead use a strawman simplification to support their own position.
Sometimes politicians and newscasters do understand the other side, and they realize that telling the full story would make their position look bad. So they employ strawman arguments to give the illusion of credibility to an otherwise unjustifiable position.
For example, the Israeli Defense Minister saying “You have to understand, there are no innocent people in Gaza. Everyone has a connection to Hamas” combined with the Israeli Prime Minister saying “Hamas is ISIS” builds a very clear image of the so-called enemy. The Israeli government is arguing that Gazan citizens are all terrorists to make their bombing, siege, and invasion of the land seem more justifiable. But it’s nothing more than a strawman.
Israel would like you to believe that children throwing stones at tanks are terrorist operatives, rather than oppressed civilians resisting their aggressor.
