[jhart3333]

"Back in June, when the contents of Edward Snowden's cache of NSA documents were just starting to be revealed and we learned about the NSA collecting phone metadata of every American, many people -- including President Obama -- discounted the seriousness of the NSA's actions by saying that it's just metadata."

You left out the part where he knocks it down with 9 different articles from various credible sources on the VERY NEXT LINE. Who is trying to deceive people here?

[rayiner]

Of course he can knock it down with lots of sources--that's the whole purpose of a straw man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man).

[jhart3333]

Not really. It is usually used as a deceptive argument by one person. This is what you implied by leaving out all the people who supported his assertion.

[rayiner]

The fact that a bunch of people knocked down the same straw man doesn't make it any less of a straw man.

[jhart3333]

What I am saying is that you are accusing Schneier of setting up a straw man when in fact you and he have a difference of opinion. This is not a straw man. He left nothing out of his assertion. However you did. Care to respond to what I actually said?

[saraid216]

If you're going to get picky about rhetorical devices, this is the one you're currently using:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum