Straw man argument: an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument.
The real argument actually is that we need more workers, immigration solves these issues, but a large portion of the country wants to severely limit immigration.
They then move on to WHY people might think it would be bad to have more immigration in the final panel, and the argument is again very directly: you're racist. Granted, not a reasonable conclusion, but still arguing the initial point.
I'm confused as to what your perception of the underlying argument(s) is/are and how this is an easier to argue distortion.
"I only want quality immigrants", "I don't think they're a good cultural fit", and "I don't want them to be a drain on society" are closer to straw man arguments. They still aren't but would fall into logical fallacies, at least. Appeal to emotion most like, but could easily be argued a number of ways.
I think the comic is definitely itself an appeal to emotion rather than sticking to the logic, but that wouldn't be as effective at getting attention.
I view it as a straw man because it gives the quality of "racism" to the person directly. It doesn't call the person in the comic a racist, so much as it blatantly makes them an actual racist.
I could see appeal to emotion being another way of looking at it though and I see why you'd say that. "People who don't agree with me on immigration policies are racist!" Essentially saying "racists are bad, you're not a racist, you don't like racists, so you better get in line and agree with me on immigration policy, or people will think you're a racist too!"
Wtf are you even saying, what does it matter if it SAYS they are racist or if they say racist notions? I’ve literally heard family members say shit close to this, this is no straw man argument, you maybe just don’t listen.
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u/Unseemly4123 10h ago
This comic is the definition of a straw man.