News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

February 9, 2007

humor

Raging against a strawman

Posted Feb. 9, ’07, 5:25 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Apple » Humor

Artie MacStrawman John Moltz of Crazy Apple Rumors is a master story teller that has crafted quality characters that can be believed, such as Artie MacStrawman. As if the name weren’t blatant enough, I’ll explain: he’s a made up character symbolizing the target of attack in a strawman argument.

It’s a fallacy one uses when trying to make a point. Normally, one invents this character on their own for their own purposes. Moltz’s sarcastic invention is so believable on his blog that people are actually arguing against him.

I’ll just leave you with this last bit of ignorance from the Artie MacStrawman blog, “I love Apple, Mac OS X is invulnerable and I’d jump off a cliff if Steve asked me to.” and “The Mac is utterly impregnable to attack. I’ll never switch to Windows or Ubuntu or something.” That sums up the thinking of most OS X users… a flawed sort of logic that really makes me believe that OS X is the new Linux… at least when it comes to cocky, arrogant, know-it-all users.

What has happened to the Canadian education system? You seriously can’t invent irony like this. In his excitement to try to illustrate Mac users as complete idiots, he’s attacked an already existing strawman. Unbelievable. Rather than owning up to the mistake, he responds thusly:

[Update] Page updated based on an error on my part… apparently OS X users can’t let you live down a mistake… Now perhaps people will be willing to discuss the actual content instead of a silly mistake…. Unless they have no comment on the content.

Dude, you go on a total tirade that at its core is a strawman argument to begin with and then you expect people to take it seriously? You’ve already shown us why it’s invalid to begin with. Maybe it’s a bit much to expect an understanding of that concept. My advice, take your lumps and learn to read for meaning.

[via the Macalope]


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