| Critical Reasoning Butler: November 2025 |
| November 7 | CR 1 | CR 2 |
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CR 1 Before the advent of writing each of the isolated clans of the Comaquogue tribe had master storytellers whose function was to orally transmit the clan's tradition from one generation to the next. When writing was developed within certain clans of the tribe, their master storytellers disappeared within a few generations. This stands to reason, since the availability of written records obviated the need for masterful oral communicators to keep the tradition of literate clans alive. What has puzzled anthropologists, however, is the total lack of masterful storytellers in modern illiterate Comaquogue clans.
Which of the following, if true, best helps to explain the puzzling situation mentioned above?
(A) Modern illiterate Comaquogue clan members display personality characteristics that resemble their ancestors more closely than they resemble the characteristics of modern literate Comaquogue clan members.
(B) Modern illiterate Comaquogue clans participate in more ritual gatherings than most modern literate Comaquogue clans do, but they participate in fewer ritual gatherings than did their common ancestors.
(C) Modern illiterate Comaquogue clans are recently descended from long-time literate clans that failed to pass on the skills of reading and writing due to a devastating 75-year war.
(D) The celebrations of modern illiterate Comaquogue clans involve a great deal of singing and dancing, and children are taught clan songs and dances from a very young age.
(E) The traditions of modern illiterate Comaquogue clans are an amalgamation of the cumulative experiences of previous generations plus innovations to the heritage added by the current generation of clan members.
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CR 2 An economic or political crisis in a poor country can lead to a lack of faith in the country's leaders, which is often followed by violent behavior, dissent, and even revolt among specific segments of the population. In many cases, propaganda is immediately issued from media outlets that quells such reactions by downplaying the extent of the recent crisis, thereby helping to restore belief in the efficacy of the government. However, the habitual violence exhibited by certain groups of disaffected youths in such countries generally has nothing to do with a lack of faith in their leaders, but rather is the consequence of an endemic boredom and lack of any vision of a positive future for themselves.
Which of the following statements follows most logically from the statements in the passage above?
(A) It is easier to quell periodic revolts in poor countries than it is to solve the habitual problem of youth violence.
(B) In all poor countries, propaganda alone cannot entirely diffuse dissent stemming from an economic or political crisis.
(C) Economic and political crises do not lead to any instances of youth violence in poor countries.
(D) The effect that propaganda has in putting down revolts in poor countries is primarily related to its ability to alter people's fundamental beliefs.
(E) To the extent that propaganda may help to decrease youth violence in a poor country, it is probably not the result of restoring the youths' faith in their country's leadership.