“A straw man is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue.
The straw man fallacy occurs in the following pattern:

1. Topic A is under discussion.
2. Topic B is introduced under guise of being equivalent to topic A.
3. A participant (usually the one who introduced B) attacks B, as if it were A.”.

(from Wikipedia)

“If you have a People Pleaser Pattern, you often try to be who others want you to be, to agree with them, to fit in.
You may not be consciously aware that you are doing this, but there is a part of your psyche that wants to please others in order to avoid reactions that you are afraid of.”.
“This doesn’t necessarily mean that you always act compliant.
Even when your pleasing part is activated, there may be other parts of you that feel other things.
While you are being pleasing, another part of you may be feeling ashamed of this, and eventually this part may speak up.”.
(Jay Earley)
The People Pleaser Pattern. From The Pattern System by Jay Earley.

“The true nature of phenomena is emptiness. There is no realization, no delusion, no sage, no mediocrity. There is no giving and nothing to be received.”

Dokuon, who was smoking quietly, said nothing.
Suddenly he whacked Yamaoka with his bamboo pipe. This made the youth quite angry.

“If nothing exists,” inquired Dokuon, “where did this anger come from?”

Nothing exists, from 101 Zen Stories.

“A person can be highly intelligent, sane, and honest and still be totally wrong.”.

“Someone once told me a story of a high school that had a problem that it’s parking lot wasn’t big enough to accommodate all the students who wanted to park their cars there.
In response to the complaints, the principal said:
“If you get here early enough, there are always plenty of spaces!”.
(Bob Korn, Zero-Sum Games)

Responsible Thinking: “An investigation into critical thinking, the methods of science, and the problem of false beliefs.”.
By Bob Korn.

“One of the main ideas on the book is that acting like a demeaning jerk isn’t just a personality characteristic that some people have and others don’t.
There is a lot of evidence that, when any of us are around nasty people, we – without realizing it – start mimicking their nastiness, and suffer from asshole poisoning as well.
Management gurus are constantly ranting about the importance of commitment.
But if you work with people who treat you like dirt, they have not earned your passion and commitment. Practice going through the motions without really caring.”.
(Robert Sutton)
The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t.