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this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2025
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TechTakes
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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.
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We need a word for when they make up a guy who doesn't exist and then get mad at him.
Pretty sure that's a strawman.
Since this is the solo version, strawmasturbating
Straw-onanism
Oooh that's good
I mean, I think the relevant difference is that rather than trying to argue against a weak opponent they're trying to validate their feelings of victimization, superiority, and/or outrage by imagining an appropriate foil.
It's a straw man that exists to be effectively venerated rather than torn down.
I think I might be missing some context here. Granted without context I'm pretty sure that strawman is still the right word.
I think "making up a guy to get mad at" is already an idiom as is.
You're not wrong!
Drilling down, it'd be nice if there needs to be a way to capture the level of intentionality involved.
Ben Shapiro starts out with malice afore thought when makes up a guy, because he has a propaganda quota to hit. That's a strawman.
A rationalist's guy is an emergent phenomenon that arises from their cultic milieu (sometimes). They run with that misaprehention because of "smartest boy syndrome" and then you can't tell em anything.
it's kinda hilarious how close "steelmanning" (as practiced by some) already is to this, but probably not far enough to be usable for that purpose on its own
Had the same thought. -manning implies an ongoing conversation, rather than something to describe a lone weirdo spiraling about a fantasy.
I guess keeping in theme, "vibe replying"