#5 - Columnist: A democratic society cannot exist unless

[Luke Haqq]

Hi Dancingbambarina!

To address answer choice (D), the conclusion of this stimulus is the final sentence: "It is obvious then that widespread reliance on movies and electronic media for entertainment has an inherently corrosive effect on democracy." Hopefully when you read the stimulus, you noticed that "widespread reliance on movies and electronic media for entertainment" is a new element not mentioned anywhere else in the stimulus other than the conclusion. Since this is an assumption question, you'll want to look for an answer choice that connects that new material in the conclusion to what's in the premises.

With that in mind, a quick skim through the answer choices suggests that (A), (D), and (E) all might be good places to start because all of them mention reliance on movies and electronic media for entertainment. Answer choice (D) states, "Relying on movies and electronic media for entertainment generally makes people less likely to participate in groups outside their families." What this does is it connects to a contrapositive of the chain in the administrator's post. It effectively gives us the following:

RMEME PCO

That is, if people rely on movies and electronic media for entertainment, they will be less likely to participate in groups outside the family like civic organizations and political parties. If we have PCO, then we also have SB (i.e., citizens don't establish strong bonds of mutual trust), which in turn leads to DS (i.e., it's not consistent with the existence of a democratic society, or has a harmful, corrosive effect on democracy).

[Dancingbambarina]

When negating A as a conditional statement, it is quite different how it works here because the "Anyone" is negated. Surely the necessary condition must be disregarded as necessary? If that's the case, the argument is greatly affected as:

Anyone who relies on movies and electronic
media for entertainment is ABLE to form a
strong bond of mutual trust with a citizen

If everyone is able, then the argument would be greatly affected because no corrosive effect would be present.

Thanks very much