Comment on The Straw Man Argument by kevinbolk

A straw man argument is a logical fallacy wherein a "straw man" is constructed- a skewed perception of the opposing viewpoint.

Example: there's a pretend debate between people who like red zorbles and people who like orange zorbles (I made up zorbles and their attributes for the sake of this, because it's the structure that's relevant not the issue at hand). The argument of red zorble fans is that they have more star points, while orange zorble fans prefer their color because it has more moon points. Red zorble fans think that too many moon points slow a zorble down, and orange zorble fans think that moon points are superior and star points sacrifice too much power. 

Now a Red Zorble fan is making this kind of comic about the issue. To illustrate and promote their points, they construct a "straw man" Orange Zorble fan. This person is made to look as unattractive as possible and sound as stupid as possible with blown up points that exaggerate and don't accurately represent the opposite viewpoint. Probably their clothes have orange moons all over them.
"Red Zorbles are pathetic and weak and they have to eat babies to keep up their strength that they don't have! Lock up your babies! Fuck Red Zorbles! Grr!" shouts the Straw Man.
Orange Zorble fans don't think that Red Zorbles are inferior because they eat babies, or that being fast leads to baby eating. They prefer orange because they value strength over speed. This is a straw man argument because it's presenting the opposite view in a skewed way to get their point across.
"But Red Zorbles don't eat babies," the reasonable author might counter, "where did you get such an idea? Red Zorbles might not be able to beat a wrestler in a fight but they are the very fastest. Eating a baby would slow them down." The author has a single red star on their tee shirt, to show that fans of red zorbles are much more reasonable and less in your face about their opinion.
"ARRR That's just exactly what a baby eating Red Zorble would say!" screams the Straw Man.
"Heh, did all those Orange Zorbles make you that slow?" quips the author in response. 

It doesn't add anything useful to the debate because it doesn't accurately represent the opposing view. The sole purpose of a straw man is to discredit the other view and make anyone who has that view look foolish and unreasonable.