Term for Exaggeration, Used in Argument
Solution 1:
Perhaps a "social knee-jerk reaction" may describe your situation with a mundane overtone.
Beyond your search for the "literary" term, ad hominem may be an interesting read for you. This phrase is also categorized under a neat diagram called Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement
An axe-murderer refusing to do dish washing sits near the bottom, I must say.
Solution 2:
I think you may describe it as an overstatement :
- something that you say that makes things seem more important, impressive or serious than they really are
- making something seem more important than it really is: exaggeration, magnification.
A useful expression is also:
make a mountain out if a molehill:
- Cliché to make a major issue out of a minor one; to exaggerate the importance of something. Come on, don't make a mountain out of a molehill. It's not that important. You wrote one bad essay - it doesn't mean you're going to fail your degree.
Source: www.macmillandictionary.com
Solution 3:
The direct opposite of 'hyperbole' ( overstatement) is 'litotes'; deliberate understatement.
In this context though, you've answered your own question. What you're describing is simply hyperbole.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litotes