The straw man fallacy is an informal logical fallacy used in debates and rhetoric. It gets its name from the idea of building a literal dummy out of straw—which is helpless and easy to knock over—instead of fighting a real person. I am amused to no end when I hear people talk of the ‘strawman’ …The straw man fallacy is an informal logical fallacy used in debates and rhetoric. It gets its name from the idea of building a literal dummy out of straw—which is helpless and easy to knock over—instead of fighting a real person. I am amused to no end when I hear people talk of the ‘strawman’ …