Several legislators claim that the public

Answer choices

1. A

   Bad Premise Match2% picked this

   attempts to undermine the legislators’ credibility instead of addressing

   The author does address their argument, by citing as survey that is about whether movies are too violent or offensive. This answer describes the famous flaw Ad Hominem

   2%
2. B

   Not a Flaw, Here3% picked this

   bases its conclusion on subjective judgments rather than on an objective criterion

   If the issue being discussed were factual or objective in nature, then yes it would be bad to base an argument on subjective judgments. But here the issue being discussed is subjective in nature, whether the public feels that movies are too violent / offensive. So having subjective evidence is very appropriate. This sounds like an Inappropriate Appeal (to Opinion), but because the conclusion is about opinion it's an appropriate appeal.

   3%
3. C

   Bad Conclusion Match0% picked this

   fails to consider the possibility that violent movies increase the prevalence

   This potential objection would be for a conversation about "whether or not it's okay [normative] for there to be violence in movies". This conversation is a descriptive one about "whether or not the public generally thinks that movies are too violent / offensive."

   0%
4. D

   Correct89% picked this

   generalizes from a sample that is unlikely to be representative of

   Why this is right

   Since the movie guild members have a vested interest in defending the movie industry and since they're potentially desensitized to its excesses (by seeing more movies than most), they aren't a reliable stand-in for public sentiment.

   Skill tested: Flaw · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   89%
5. E

   Out of Scope: random sampling6% picked this

   presumes, without providing justification, that the people surveyed based their responses on a random

   There's no real indication how the survey was structured. It sounds like they just asked people what their feelings about movies were, and those people answered based on the movies they've seen (in their lifetime). I don't know if the author has to assume that that's a random sample. A non-random sample wouldn't necessarily hurt the argument. They may have reminded the guild members of some of the recent movies that have been singled out as being too violent / offensive (that would be non-random but make the survey results even more compelling in the author's favor).

   6%