Randy Steindorf wrote:
>
> >
> > The "strawman" tactic has been in existence since the Greek sophists
> starting teaching their pupils how to defeat their opponents in public
> debates.
>
Whoa! The same bullshit from a leftist that I've been battling on a listserv of Milton scholars. The sophists were the first defenders of democracy -- meaning rule by the _demos_, the people (in modern terminology, the working class) -- and for that sin their own works were suppressed and all that has come down to us are the slanders by their aristocratic enemies, beginning with Plato. Plato wrote one honest text -- honest in giving an almost fair accounting of his opponents, the _Protagoras_. (The _Republic_ is still my favorite book -- but there is no doubt it is by The Enemy.)
Carrol