#2 - Raymond Burr played the role of lawyer Perry Mason on

[jlam061695]

I chose C initially, but then I went back and chose E because I didn't really like any of the other answer choices. However, I having trouble seeing why E is correct? Doesn't the argument address the very thing (the difference between reality and fiction) in the last part of the stimulus almost word for word ("some legal professionals are losing their ability to distinguish fiction from reality")?

[Adam Tyson]

The issue here, jlam, is that the author ignored that the lawyer has already said "Although not a lawyer" in his statement about Burr. The lawyer started off by acknowledging the difference between reality and fiction - he knew that Burr was not a lawyer but only played one on TV. The author acted as if the lawyer had not made that distinction and thought that Burr was really a lawyer, as if the lawyer had said only "We lost one of our own". That's the flaw here, that the author simply ignored the evidence and made an unsupported conclusion about the current state of affairs. There is nothing in the lawyer's statement to suggest that anyone is having any difficulty telling reality from fiction.

I hope that helps clear it up.