Battling Strawmen

[ziero0]

https://mythology-and-metaphysics.medium.com/the-battle-of-strawmen-symbolism-of-the-scarecrow-in-the-wizard-of-oz-b716feec48e4

I can’t think of a better way to symbolically represent a character who lives their life in a battle with strawmen than as a scarecrow without a brain.

Perhaps this isn’t the true meaning behind the character, but it’s a fascinating coincidence from which we can extract a timeless truth.

Once we start using our brain and take opposing views seriously, we are no longer a strawman.

[keehah]

https://mythology-and-metaphysics.medium.com/the-battle-of-strawmen-symbolism-of-the-scarecrow-in-the-wizard-of-oz-b716feec48e4


So in The Wizard of Oz, why doesn’t Scarecrow, the strawman, have a brain?

All the four main characters in that story were strawmaned before the unveiling.


straw man
noun
a weak or imaginary opposition (such as an argument or adversary) set up only to be easily confuted

confuted
verb
prove (a person or an assertion) to be wrong

the_four_personality_types (https://www.daviddeley.com/cogsci/recovery/the_four_personality_types.htm)
NT, Rationals, 5% to 10%: The Scarecrow has the “knowledge seeking” personality. He bases his self-esteem on being competent.

NF Idealists, 15% to 20%: The Tin Man has the “identity seeking” personality. He seeks to be “authentic”, and bases his self-esteem on being benevolent.

ST, Artisans, 30% to 35%: The Lion has the “sensation seeking” personality. He seeks action and the courage to act. He bases his self-esteem on his physical performance.

SJ, Guardians, 40% to 45%: Dorothy seeks the security and comfort of home and family. She seeks to belong, and bases her self-esteem on being dependable.


Alternately (https://blogs.stthom.edu/cameron/the-wizard-of-oz-as-a-monetary-allegory/): More recently, however, a number of authors have argued that the Wizard of Oz is not a children book at all, but rather a populist allegory about the US monetary debates of the last quarter of the 19th century.

[ziero0]

William Jennings Bryan was the cowardly lion. The issue of the time was gold money vs silver money.

The TIN man (Taxpayer ID Number) ends up being whosoever volunteers into this spiders web.

The Wiz sent Dorothy on an expedition to get the Wicked Witch of the West's broom (her conveyance). In the process Dorothy liquidated her with a bucket of water.

The Wicked Witch seemed to be identical to the landlady back in Kansas who sought to dog knap Toto. In toto being a legal phrase meaning "everything you possess plus a little more".