Self-study
Political opinion and analysis outside the mainstream rarely are found on television talk shows, and it might be thought that this state of affairs is a product of the political agenda of the television stations themselves. ██ █████ ██████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███████ ██ ████ ████████ ██████ ███████ ████ ████ ███████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ ██ █ ███████ █████████ ████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ ███ █████████ █████ ███ ██████████
Summary
The author argues that TV talk shows feature boring perspectives because they’re attempting to appeal to the largest possible number of people.
Notable Assumptions
The argument gives support for the claim that TV shows attempt to appeal to large numbers of people, but fails to establish what the preferences of those people are. If viewers don’t prefer bland and innocuous perspectives, then the author’s explanation doesn’t make sense.
The argument relies on the assumption that bland and innocuous perspectives appeal to large numbers of people.
4.
An assumption made in the ███████████ ███████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ ████
a
most television viewers ██████ █████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ █ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ████ ██████████
It wouldn’t matter if this weren’t true. Even if most viewers were to agree on what was most disturbing, it could still be the case that TV shows feature boring perspectives to appeal to them.
b
there are television ███████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████████████ ███ ██████████
This must be true in order for the conclusion to follow. If it weren’t true—if every viewer were willing to watch controversial and disturbing content—then there’d be no need for TV shows to feature boring perspectives to appeal to them.
c
each television viewer █████ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ███████████ ███ █████ ████████ ███ ███ ███ ████ ███ ████████
If this weren’t true, it could actually make the argument stronger. If every viewer had only mainstream opinions, then it would make sense why TV shows feature mainstream opinions to attract them. So (C) is not necessary to assume.
d
there are television █████ ██ █████ ████████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████ █████
The argument is concerned only with TV talk shows, so there’s no need to assume anything about other shows.
e
the television talk █████ ██ █████████ ████████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ ████████
TV talk shows do not need to resemble one another in most respects in order for the conclusion to follow. It could be the case that they vary in every respect other than the nature of the opinions and perspectives they air.