Attacking a statement which the opponent hasn’t made.
The author attacks a different and, generally, weaker argument than the opposition’s best one.
Examples:
– Those who opposed the Charlottetown Accord probably just wanted Quebec to become independent. But we want Quebec to stay in Canada.
-Military service should be mandatory. People do not want to enter the military because they find it inconvenient, but they have to realize that there are more important things than convenience.
To refute it
Show how the opposition’s arguments have been misinterpreted, and prove the opposition has a stronger argument.
.
Whenever the source is not referenced, both definitions and examples have been extracted from a translation of Jaime Wilson jwilson@bytecr.com based on Stephen’s Guide to the Logical Fallacies. Copyright 1995-1998 Stephen Downes. Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.
These texts have been modified by Miguel A. Lerma and now by us to adapt them -and those taken from Wikipedia- to our format.