Role in ArgumentDiff: Hard
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: Reporters say they dig into politicians' personal lives to help the world, but it actually hurts society by making leaders fake and the public grumpy.
Conclusion: Investigating the private lives of political leaders is actually harmful to society.
Reasoning: It causes public figures to prioritize optics over substance and breeds cynicism among the general population.
Analysis: The author starts by presenting a common justification used by journalists, but don't let that fool you into thinking the author agrees with it. This is a classic 'some people say' setup where the first sentence exists solely to be contradicted by the 'In reality' that follows. Your job is to recognize this as a claim the author introduces only to argue against it. It's the rhetorical equivalent of a boxer leading with a jab just to set up a knockout punch.
Conclusion: Investigating the private lives of political leaders is actually harmful to society.
Reasoning: It causes public figures to prioritize optics over substance and breeds cynicism among the general population.
Analysis: The author starts by presenting a common justification used by journalists, but don't let that fool you into thinking the author agrees with it. This is a classic 'some people say' setup where the first sentence exists solely to be contradicted by the 'In reality' that follows. Your job is to recognize this as a claim the author introduces only to argue against it. It's the rhetorical equivalent of a boxer leading with a jab just to set up a knockout punch.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage9.The claim that journalistic investigation of the private lives of political leaders is an effort to improve society plays which one of the following roles in the argument?
Correct Answer
B
The opening claim is a commonly offered justification for investigating leaders’ private lives, and the argument concludes that this practice has harmful consequences. So the claim functions as a justification sometimes offered for a practice that the argument says produces undesirable outcomes.
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