It’s a curious accident of human nature that strawdoll tactics are so popular rhetorically since they are really, really bad for convincing people. They’re good at preaching to the choir and riling up the base, which is what contributes to their popularity; “manufacturing outrage”, but when people see through the strawdoll claims, that can undermine the credibility of your entire case and send them running right into the waiting arms of the other side, and when that other side truly is so much worse than yours, that’s a disaster.
People on the fence are especially vulnerable to this. They’ve seen some of the other side’s argument and now they come to hear you out. They see you saying things about the other side that doesn’t mesh with what they’ve heard, with how the other side has originally presented itself, and they conclude that you’re exaggerating or even lying, especially if that other side isn’t presenting itself that honestly.
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