LSAT 147 | Section 1 | Logical Reasoning: Q20

LR Question 20 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: Sociologist: Television, telephones, and other electronic media…

QUESTION TYPE: Must Be False

FACTS:

1. Critical thinking is the only defense against demagogues.
2. Demagogues try to exploit people with emotional language.
3. TV, telephones and electronic media discourage critical thinking.

ANALYSIS: On this type of question, you just have to find an answer that contradicts one of the three facts above. That’s it. Just remember them, and look for a contradiction. You don’t have to combine the facts or do anything fancy.

For example, if I say:

1. Dogs are cute
2. Parents discourage dogs, because they smell
3. Therefore kids don’t always get cute things

The right answer would be “dogs aren’t cute” or “parents encourage dogs”, etc. That simple. A wrong answer would be something like “dogs are not the smelliest” or “kids like many pets” or “parents often buy dogs”. None of those things contradict a fact above.

___________

1. This could be true. There may be no demagogues, even if we aren’t protected from them.
2. It could be true that there are other people who seek to exploit people with emotional language.
3. This could be true. Or it could not be. It really doesn’t matter. “Emotionally loaded language” isn’t the same thing as an “emotional person”. All humans have emotions that can be exploited. An emotional person is someone with more emotions than normal.
4. CORRECT. This must be false. The stimulus said that critical thinking is the only safeguard against demagogues. So, an orderly system of government can’t be enough on its own – we need critical thinking.
5. The stimulus didn’t talk about the erosion of media freedoms. So, this is possible.