manasveek wrote:
The public square was an important tool of democracy in days past because it provided a forum for disparate citizens to discuss the important issues of the day. Today, a person with Internet access can discuss important issues with millions of people across the nation, allowing the Internet to play the role once played by the public square. Hence, we should ensure that Internet users have at least as much freedom of expression as did people speaking in the public square.
Which one of the following is an assumption required by the argument?
.(A) People speaking in the public square of days past had complete freedom of expression.
.(B) All citizens have the same level of access to the Internet.
.(C) A public forum can lose effectiveness as a tool of democracy if participants cannot discuss issues freely.
.(D) The Internet is more often used to discuss important issues than to discuss frivolous issues.
.(E) Other than the Internet, no other public forum today is an important tool of democracy.
Source: LSAT
Hello guys!
The statement gives us a run through of 2 different times. One is when the public square was a forum for people to express their views and Second is Internet where users express their views. The author here assumes that despite using Internet- which is an easy medium to promote and instigate one's views, if one is not able to address the crowd, then it will be a loss for the current medium.
Using POE,
Eliminate
Option A, this statement is a replica of what we saw in the draft. It does not provide us with an assumption. Drop this.
Eliminate
Option B, having a common access to the internet doesn't help us to know what lies behind the internet's purpose.
Option C seems good. Let's keep it.
Eliminate
Option D, this is a fact, which is not relevant to our topic here. Can be or cannot be true.
Eliminate
Option E, out of scope.
Option C is a green signal for us. It assumes the root cause of our topic, if people are unable to express their views then public forum will lose its effectiveness.
Official Answer:- Option CThank you!
Regards,
Raunak Damle