Some critics claim that the

Answer choices

1. A

   Not Ad Hominem1% picked this

   The argument launches a personal attack against the critics rather than addressing the reasons they present in

   Although this famous flaw was on our radar, since this was a Rebuttal argument on a Flaw question, the author never said anything personal about these critics.

   1%
2. B

   Too Specific18% picked this

   The argument takes for granted that the media give at least as much exposure as they should to a wide range of opinion on

   The most important way to get rid of this answer is to know the much more egregious problems we want the answer to be discussing (the illegal negation and the illegal unproven vs. proven false move). Digging into the specifics of this one is trickier. The author establishes, not assumes, that the media purveys (i.e. provides) a range of opinion that is at least as wide as that found among consumers of media. That might not necessarily mean that they give as much exposure as they should to a wide range of opinion on the important issues. If we negated this assumption, would it hurt the argument to say, "Hey, author, the media doesn't give as much exposure as they should to a wide range of opinion on the important issues"? It seems like it creates some doubt: Hey, maybe the media's power to impose its opinions on important issues really is too great. After all, the media doesn't give as much exposure as they should to a wide range of opinion. It's not nothing, but it's not much, in terms of an objection. This answer loses out an answer that is calling out the more explicit reasoning flaw, rather than this more murky line of objection.

   18%
3. C

   Correct70% picked this

   The argument takes for granted that if the truth of one claim implies the truth of a second claim, then the falsity of the

   Why this is right

   This combines the Illegal Negation and Unproven vs. Proven False aspects we were looking at. It's always a flaw to assume that if the truth of claim 1 implies claim 2, then the falsity of claim 1 implies the falsity of claim 2. That's an illegal negation, thinking that if we know "LA → California" it also means that "not LA → not California". In this case, the author assumes that since "media has narrower range of opinion" would prove "power to impose opinion is too great", then the fact that "media not has narrower range" proves that "power to impose opinion is not too great".

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

   70%
4. D

   Not Inappropriate Appeals3% picked this

   The argument, instead of providing adequate reasons in support of its conclusion, makes an appeal

   This refers to one of the top 10 famous flaws Inappropriate Appeals (to Emotion / Unqualified Opinion). The author's argument doesn't rely on anyone's opinion. It relies on one conditional logic rule and on one 'factual' premise that the media's range of opinion is at least as broad as media consumers' range of opinion. That's not an appeal to popular opinion, which means thinking "Since most people believe X, X is true."

   3%
5. E

   Out of Scope: desirable8% picked this

   The argument takes for granted that it is desirable for a wide range of opinion on the important issues of the

   Like (B), we really want to avoid engaging with this answer, by seeing the conditional logic flaw up front. It feels reasonable to think the author assumes purveying a wide range of opinion is desirable, but it's not necessary to the argument. The argument is only about whether or not the media's power to impose opinions is too great, based on whether or not the range of opinion is at least as broad as that found among consumers of media. It's not about whether a range of opinion is desirable, undesirable, or neither. Furthermore, the Absolute language of "wide range" is not part of the argument. The evidence is only about Relative language of "wider / narrower range". The range of sports you like (basketball and football) might be wider than the range of sports I like (basketball), but that doesn't mean that you like a wide range of sports.

   8%