Self-paced
Curator: Conclusion A magazine recently ran a very misleading story on the reaction of local residents to our controversial art exhibit. ████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ██████████ ███ ██ ████ █████████ █ █████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ██████████ ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ █████ █████████ ██████ ███ ████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████ ███ ████ ████ ███ █████ █████████ ███ ███ █████ ████████
Summary
All three people the magazine quoted were close friends, and the magazine didn’t make that clear. Therefore, the magazine’s article about the moral outrage of residents was misleading.
Notable Assumptions
The argument moves from a specific claim about what the newspaper did (took quotes only from three friends) to a more general claim that the entire article was misleading. It does not, however, provide an explicit statement of why it’s misleading to only interview a group of close friends. We’re therefore looking for some principle that justifies that leap, and explains why what the magazine did is actually misleading.
21.
Which one of the following ██████████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ██████████████
a
It is misleading ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██ █ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ████ ████████
Wrong trigger. Nothing in the argument suggests that the magazine presented the opinions of the friends as though they were experts.
b
It is misleading ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██ ██ █████ ████ ███ ██████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████
Wrong trigger. Nothing in the argument tells us that the population is likely to be evenly divided on the issue.
c
It is misleading ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ █ ███ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ ███ ████████ ██████ ██████ ███ ████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ █████
Wrong trigger. We don’t know whether their opinions were widely held or not - if they were, then this would actually support the opposite conclusion (that the magazine was not being misleading).
d
It is misleading ██ ███████ █████████ ████ █████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████
Wrong trigger. Nothing in the argument suggests that the magazine implied the friends must agree with each other - it simply reproduced the quotes the friends gave.
e
It is misleading ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ █ ███████████ █████████████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ████ █████████ ██████ ████████
This explains why what the magazine did is misleading. Because the three were close friends, they might be nonrepresentative of the general public, but the magazine used them to show public opinion, which this answer choice tells us is misleading.