#21 - Columnist: Although there is and should be complete

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Must Be True—PR. The correct answer choice is (C)

The columnist quoted in this stimulus might be a bit difficult to understand because of the use of a
double negative, but the argument can be restated more simply as follows:

Thought and expression should be completely free, but that doesn’t make it right to exploit depraved
(i.e. corrupt, perverted, etc.) tastes for money.

The stimulus is followed by a Must Be True—Principle question, so we should seek the answer
choice which follows the principle above.

Answer choice (A): This choice would put government limits on the freedoms of thought and
expression, so this is not aligned with the principle from the stimulus.

Answer choice (B): The principle in the stimulus does not deal with the freedom to exploit depraved
tastes and to refrain from such exploitation, so this cannot be the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice. This answer perfectly follows the principle
expressed by the author of the stimulus: with specific regard to books, thought and expression should
not be restricted, but that does not mean that it is alright to exploit depraved tastes for gain.

Answer choice (D): This incorrect answer choice deals with limitations on depraved recordings,
rather than freedom of thought or expression, so it does not conform to the principle in the stimulus
and is incorrect.

Answer choice (E): The principle from the stimulus is that there should be freedom but that this does
not justify the exploitation of depravity. This choice deals with criticism of others and exhibition,
omitting any reference to the exploitation of depraved tastes.

[smile22]

I was torn between answers C and D. Unfortunately I chose D. Could you please explain the difference between the two answers so that I can better understand why C is correct and D is not. Thank you in advance.

[David Boyle]

I was torn between answers C and D. Unfortunately I chose D. Could you please explain the difference between the two answers so that I can better understand why C is correct and D is not. Thank you in advance.

Hello smile22,

The wording is a little tricky, even, with the double negative ("does not mean that there is nothing wrong"). So don't feel bad about any confusion!
Anyway, the columnist says basically the way our own society works, i.e., free speech generally is permitted even if a particular example of it is evil by a lot of people's standards. For example, though most people think devil worship is bad (I assume), we do not arrest people for reading or selling whatever devil-worshippers have for "religious literature".
And answer C matches that very well, saying that total freedom of speech is *legally* acceptable, even if it is not always *morally* acceptable.
Answer D, though, allows State censorship ("the government may . . . limit the production of recordings"), which goes counter to what the columnist says.

Hope that helps,
David

[smile22]

That makes sense. Thank you!

[eober]

Hi,

Here, both question stems look like they are the same but question 21 is identified as Parallel PR and 23 as Strengthen, why is that?

Thanks for the clarification!

[Nicholas Bruno]

Good question! I can see where, just isolating the question stems, you can see that the two look similar.

The difference though is that #21 asks you to *apply* the principle: "which of the following *judgments* (from the answer choices) conforms...to the principle?"

#23 asks you to find which principle is applied in the stimulus: "the *recommendation* (from the stimulus) most closely conforms to which one of the following principles?"

I hope that makes sense! Let me know if that answers your question!

[Salvi627]

I don't really understand this question.. Why is A incorrect but C is correct? Doesn't the second part of A address the second part of the principle?

I think I might be getting a little confused about the principle itself... Sometimes I have difficulty understanding what they are addressing simply because I wasn't sure what depraved meant! I hope my lack of a big vocabulary doesn't hinder my performance this saturday...


Thanks

sophie

[Robert Carroll]

Sophie,

Answer choice (A) is wrong as whether something is depraved is completely irrelevant, in the stimulus, to whether it should be illegal. The point of the stimulus was that moral judgment can attach to depravity even when depraved works should still be permitted by law. Answer choice (A), by conditioning government rights on lack of depravity, does not follow the principle in the stimulus.

Answer choice (C) fits the principle exactly - the law should permit everything, but a depraved thing might still be subject to moral disapproval.

If you see a word used quite often in stimuli or RC passages, I'd look it up, but in this case I don't really need to know what "depraved" means as I just know that, as far as the author is using it, it's something that doesn't disqualify an act from legal permission but may disqualify it from moral approval, if there is financial gain involved.

Robert Carroll

[Khodi7531]

How rare is this question? I kind of just want to consider this my acceptable loss and move on...thank god after I read it twice I just moved on anyway because I knew debating between these answers would kill

[Adam Tyson]

These are pretty common, khodi7531! Questions invoking principles show up in many ways and across many types - Must Be True principles, like this one; principles that strengthen and weaken; principles in a Cannot Be True context ("which of the following most clearly violates the principle outlined above"), and more. You should expect at least one question that asks about an answer conforming to or following a principle given in the stimulus, and you may see two or even three of them on your test. Don't let them intimidate you! A principle is just a rule or a guideline, and conforming to the principle just means following the rule. Note that most principles are conditional, so you can look for a sufficient condition occurring and a conclusion that a necessary condition must also occur.