Self-study
Moralist: Conclusion TV talk shows are contributing to the moral decline in our country. ██ ██████████ █████ █████ ███ █████ █████ ██████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ █████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ █████ ███████ ████████
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Speaker 1 Summary
The moralist concludes that TV talk shows are contributing to moral decline. This is because the shows portray the least moral people, which makes viewers think being immoral is normal and that there’s something wrong with being morally upstanding.
Speaker 2 Summary
The host’s implicit conclusion is that there’s nothing wrong with what her TV talk show is doing. She asserts that any moral decline, if it exists, isn’t caused by TV talk shows. She also asserts that there’s nothing wrong with letting viewers decide what they want see. Additionally, she claims that any restrictions on her show would be censorship, and therefore wrong.
Objective
We’re looking for a point of disagreement. The speakers disagree about whether TV shows are a cause of moral decline. The moralist thinks they are, and the host thinks they’re not.
1.
The moralist's and the TV ████ ████ ██████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████ ████ ████████ █████ ███████
a
TV talk shows ██████ ██ ████████
The moralist doesn’t express an opinion. Although the moralist thinks TV talk shows cause moral decline, that doesn’t mean the moralist thinks anything should be done about it. We just don’t know his opinion.
b
people's moral standards ████ ███████
The host doesn’t express an opinion. She says that if there’s a moral decline, TV talk shows aren’t a cause of it. She doesn’t say whether there actually is a moral decline or moral change.
c
TV talk shows █████████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████
Not a point of disagreement. The host doesn’t comment on whether TV talk shows influence the viewers. Although she does say that shows simply portray what people want to see, that doesn’t mean the host thinks the shows have no impact on viewers’ conception of what’s normal.
d
TV talk shows, ██ ██████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ █ █████ ███████
This is a point of disagreement. The moralist thinks TV talk shows do cause a moral decline by presenting immoral guests. The host does not think TV talk shows cause a moral decline.
e
it is wrong ███ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███
The moralist expresses no opinion. Although she states that TV talk shows are causing a moral decline, that doesn’t tell us what she thinks about restricting what viewers can watch. Maybe she’s opposed to putting restrictions on shows, just like the host is.