You must avoid the thought process that leads to the straw man. What you really need to do, and this thought is from one of Jordan Peterson’s lectures, is to invest in the thinking that builds the iron man. So you have the straw man versus the iron man.
The parable of the three little pigs comes to mind. The first two pigs frolicking about, careless and unwise do not put much thought into their plans and they build a house out of straw and twigs. The big bad wolf, huffs and puffs and blows them down. However, the wise pig builds his house out of stone and therefore is saved from the wolf. This is the same concept. Those that build the iron man are wise, those who build the straw man are stupid.
What is a straw man? It is effectively it mimicry of your enemy. You take a person that is in your life right now and you create a representation of them in your mind that is not true at all. They become the straw man, they become what represents to you as the source of your problems. You do this as a cheap way out, a non-thinking way out. We do it all the time. A person becomes our straw man. True they may be a problem to us, but more than likely we have them represent all that is ill with the world, because it is easier to blame the straw man then it is to look at our own selves.
Better is to conceive of and built the iron man. What is the type of person that it would take to built the house of stone. What would it take to resist all evil, to overcome challenges and be powerful. That is building the iron man. That is becoming what we want to become. One is blaming another for our weakness, the other is recognizing our weakness and creating a plan to become strong.
So next time you are really bothered with someone and start to fixate on them, ask yourself, are you building a straw man? When you start to do that, perhaps it is better to think of how you can build an iron man instead?
Guy Reams
