> This note is from an external source and is used for backlinking purposes. Its contents were pulled from the [University of Tennessee at Martin](https://iep.utm.edu/fallacy/#StrawMan). Your reasoning contains the Straw Man Fallacy whenever you attribute an easily refuted position to your opponent, one that the opponent would not endorse, and then proceed to attack the easily refuted position (the straw man) believing you have thereby undermined the real man, the opponent’s actual position. If the unfair and inaccurate representation is on purpose, then the Straw Man Fallacy is caused by lying. Example (a debate before the city council): > _Opponent_: Because of the killing and suffering of Indians that followed Columbus’s discovery of America, the City of Berkeley should declare that Columbus Day will no longer be observed in our city. > > _Speaker_: This is ridiculous, fellow members of the city council. It’s not true that everybody who ever came to America from another country somehow oppressed the Indians. I say we should continue to observe Columbus Day, and vote down this resolution that will make the City of Berkeley the laughing stock of the nation. The Opponent is likely to respond with “Wait! That’s not what I said.” The Speaker has twisted what his Opponent said. The Opponent never said nor even indirectly suggested that everybody who ever came to America from another country somehow oppressed the Indians.