A level revision

Straw man

A straw man argument or flaw occurs when an arguer 'misses the point', distorts or exaggerates of an opposing argument. This may be done on purpose to make it easier to write a counter argument or it may be because the original argument was poorly written. For example:

Person A: I am for the war in Iraq as it has given Iraqis more freedom
Person B: Person A is in favour of our troops killing innocent Iraqi children and abusing children, this is wrong, therefore the war on Iraq is wrong.

Here Person B is guilty of a straw man argument by misrepresenting what was actually said by Person A in order to make it easier to create a counter argument.