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by floe 1766 days ago
I think the target audience is 'people who believe that they have to believe the strawman', if that makes sense.

Pointing out that certain statements are self-defeating and (by definition) have no proponents can help someone escape a dangerous psychological process ('stance').

As a personal example, when I deconverted from evangelical Christianity, I was disturbed for a long time by the idea that I now had no reason to act morally. Even though that's obviously self-defeating (being disturbed was in itself a sign of morality), I didn't realize that for quite some time.