--- title: The politician's either-or and the straw man — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The politician's either-or and the straw man», a lesson of the world course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Two tricks turn up in nearly every argument on TV, from every side: the either-or and the straw man. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/) / The politician's either-or and the str… # The politician's either-or and the straw man Lesson 178 of the world course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/0/) — Two tricks turn up in nearly every argument on TV, from every side: the either-or and the straw man. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/2/) — A straw man is a scarecrow version of what your opponent said. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/3/) — She says "a bit less on the army", he answers "She wants no defence at all!" and knocks down the scarecrow. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/4/) — It works just the same the other way: "a bit more" becomes "He wants war!" - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/5/) — Other tricks travel with them: attacking the person instead of the plan, changing the subject, "we've always done it this way", "everyone's talking about it", and the slippery slope "one small change and soon there'll be no rules at all". - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/6/) — This lesson never says which side is right. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/7/) — It teaches you to hear the trick on every side, including the side you like. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/8/) — An either-or (grown-ups call it a false dilemma) offers only two choices when there are more; most problems have middle options. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/9/) — "If you're not with us, you're against children" is an either-or too: people can care about the same thing and disagree about how to help. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/10/) — A straw man changes what someone said into something more extreme, then attacks that instead of the real idea. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/11/) — Politicians on all sides use straw men; a fair debater first repeats the real idea, then says why they disagree. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/13/) — Attacking the person (ad hominem) judges a plan by its maker's behaviour; behaviour can matter for trust, but it does not tell you whether a plan works. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/14/) — Answering a different question to dodge the real one is called a red herring; good interviewers ask the question again. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/15/) — "We've always done it this way" (an appeal to tradition) is not a reason on its own: old ways can be good or bad, so check whether they work. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/16/) — Being talked about does not make a plan good; people talk about bad ideas too. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/178-the-politicians-either-or-and-the-straw-man/17/) — A slippery slope says one small step will lead to disaster without giving a reason for each step; many changes can be stopped or reversed. - ← previous: ["Crime is up, I saw it on the news"](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/177-crime-is-up-i-saw-it-on-the-news/) - next →: ["It's natural so it's healthy" and the miracle cure](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/179-its-natural-so-its-healthy-and-the-miracle-cure/) - ↑ back to [World](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/)