Answer

E. Witta: That needle's getting close to "E", so we should stop and put gas in the tank very soon.
Courtney: I can prove absolutely that the windshield washer fluid container is full, and will stay full for a long, long time. So you're wrong as usual.

The gas gauge reads nearly empty.
(Nearly empty gas tanks should be filled before driving much further.)
Witta and Xena should stop and put gas in the tank very soon. (deductive - direct argument.)

versus:

The windshield washer fluid container is full
The windshield washer fluid container will stay full for a long, long time.
Witta's wrong about the gas tank. (deductive - opposing argument - red herring fallacy.)

or:

Witta says the windshield washer fluid container is nearly empty.
The windshield washer fluid container is full
The windshield washer fluid container will stay full for a long, long time.
Witta's wrong about the gas tank.  (deductive - opposing argument - straw man fallacy.)

Okay, this is a really, really easy example. But all straw man arguments follow the same basic strategy: Missrepresent the other side, defeat the mistrpresentation and then pretend that the other side is defeated. Watch out for this one!

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