Self-study
Public policy dictates the health risks the public routinely takes. ███████████ █████████ █████ ██████ █████ ███ ████ █████████ ██ ███████ ██████ ██████ █████ ████████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ ███████ █ ████ ████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ █████████ ██████████ █████████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █ ██████████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██████████ ███ ██ ███████████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ██████████████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ██████████ █████████
Argument Breakdown
The stimulus talks about public policy, which determines routine public health risks. Given this context, the argument concludes that statistics about health risks are used to ease the public's fears, while not truly contributing to policy debate. In support of this conclusion, the argument relies on an example to illustrate its point.
The specific example used is that of automobile health risks. Statistics are used to show that wearing a seat belt reduces the risk of death in a car crash, which eases the public's fears about cars. However, this same statistic deflects attention from the inherent risk of increasing car use, therefore failing to contribute to a meaningful policy debate.
Objective: Find a Parallel Example
In this question, we're not looking to parallel the entire argument, but just the example used in support. That means the correct answer choice will give us an equivalent example that supports the same conclusion. It will tell us about statistics that ease public fears while deflecting from policy debate.
24.
The way the example functions █████ ██ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Statistics indicate that ██ ██████████████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ █ ███████ █████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██ ███████████ ██████ ████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ████ █████████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ████ █ ██████ ██ ██████ ████████████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ █ ██████ █████ ██ ███████ ███████
(A) offers a statistic that eases public fears: the relative safety of nuclear power plants can ease the public's concerns about cancer-causing radiation. At the same time, this statistic deflects from the broader policy debate around the safest energy policy. This parallels the example in the stimulus to support the same conclusion.
b
Statistics indicate that ██ █████ ████████████ ████ ██ ██████████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ███ █████ ██ █ ████████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████ ██████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ████████ ██ █████ ██████
(B) gives us a statistic that eases public fears about the relative danger of urban versus suburban or rural areas. However, there's no indication that this statistic deflects from a policy debate. So it doesn't check all the boxes we would need to parallel the stimulus.
c
Statistics indicate that ███ ███████ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████████ █████████ ███████████ ███ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███ ██████████████ ██████████ ███ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ████████ ███████████████ ███ ██████ ██████████
(C) offers a statistic, but it's not clear that this statistic would ease any fears. It's not about safety risks at all, just average life expectancy. Furthermore, it seems this statistic is being used to contribute to a policy debate about insurance, rather than deflect from one.
d
Statistics indicate that ███ ███████ ████ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ █████████████ ███████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████ ██████████ ██ █████████
(D) relies on the same statistic as (C), but expands on it somewhat. But just as with (C), this statistic doesn't address fears about a safety risk. It also doesn't deflect from a policy debate, meaning (D) doubly fails to parallel the stimulus.
e
Statistics indicate that ███ ██████ ██ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ██████ █████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ █████████ █████ ██████ ███████ ███ █████████ ██ ███████████
(E)'s statistic doesn't seem to address a public fear. Instead, it directly contributes to a policy debate about the best approach to controlling and treating substance abuse. This doesn't match the deflection we're looking for to parallel the stimulus.