Have you ever had someone twist your words or heard a politician avoid answering a question ? Or have you heard an advertisement or salesman say things that make you feel uncomfortable about not buying their product? All these people use what are known as ‘Fallacious Arguments' in an attempt to gain control. For example , one fallacious argument, known as a ‘straw man' is described as follows:
A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "attack a straw man" is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the "straw man"), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.
It is useful to be aware of the type of argument used so that you recognise them when they are being used against you and be wary of the person trying to gain control.
Here is a link to a site that describes some fallacious arguments. It is worth a look. Perhaps you will recognise some of the ploys.
http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?FallaciousArgument
