Greek tragedy, one of the enduring pillars of our

[rahul.gmat]

Greek tragedy, one of the enduring pillars of our belief system, dramatized the concept that the misfortune a person suffers is not an accident, but rather a logical outcome of flaws in that person's nature; the misfortune is thus that person's "fault." Nonetheless, today the public broadly supports bankruptcy protection, family welfare and other "social safety net" programs that shield the destitute in the face of their hardships, at taxpayer expense.

Which of the following, if true, would best resolve the paradox in the statements above?
The ancient Greeks had few, if any, such social safety net programs in their society.
The majority of the public is more familiar with the works of Shakespeare than those of Greek tragedy.
Some people insist that society, not the individual, is to blame for most accidents.
Many people in financial difficulties feel too ashamed to declare bankruptcy or to take advantage of other social safety net programs.
The religions practiced by most people today strongly encourage people to contribute to charities that assist innocent people injured in natural disasters, such as hurricanes.
The statements above present a paradox. If, as the author implies, the ethos of Greek tragedy still holds as an "enduring pillar of our belief system," an ethos declaring each person's misfortune that person's fault, then the majority of the public should not support "social safety net" programs, which are based on the philosophical position that someone's misfortune is not necessarily his or her fault.

(A) This choice does not resolve the paradox. The observation that the ancient Greeks had few social safety net programs does not explain why the public today supports such programs, while holding onto the ethos of Greek tragedy.

(B) This is an irrelevant comparison. This choice does not say that the public is actually unfamiliar with Greek tragedy, and its greater familiarity with Shakespeare does not explain the paradox.

(C) The fact that "some" people insist that society is to blame for misfortune does not explain why the public today "broadly supports" social safety net programs.

(D) This choice does not resolve the paradox. Perhaps many destitute people do not take advantage of social safety net programs because they feel ashamed -- maybe even guilty, as if they caused their own misfortunes (whether or not they did), in accordance with the ethos of Greek tragedy. However, this observation does not explain why these programs enjoy the broad support of the public.

(E) CORRECT. This statement undermines the author’s assumption that the ethos of the ancient Greeks is the only operative component of the public's belief system. If most people believe in helping innocent victims of natural disasters, then they must believe that there can be "innocent victims" and that not all misfortune is due to the actions and flaws of the individual in question.

(E) talks about religion encouraging people towards such welfare funds but the choice goes on to refer to NATURAL CALAMITIES. Here we are discussing only social programs. Although the first half of the choice is correct, he second half kinda throws i off. In natural calamities it is MOST reasonable to assume that the victim is innocent but this doesn’t mean anything about social misfortunes. I think (D) would make a better ans although not a great one as it says that Greek principles still apply in the sense that people themselves feel guilty about their misfortunes, that is they know they are not innocent. So the paradox is resolved. Although this is not a great answer it definitely improvises on the "natural calamity" part of (E). Can you pls elaborate?

[christiancryan]

Hi Rahul,

Many apologies -- your question was passed to me but I overlooked it by accident. I hope this answer is still useful to you. This problem is very difficult and has stumped almost everyone who's seen it. I certainly understand how the "red-herring" reference to "natural calamities" threw you off from choice E, and in fact it may be a little too much of a curveball. However, E is still preferable to D. You make the point how an enduring Greek ethos can support the idea in choice D, but you don't explain how that idea resolves the paradox -- that is, how the fact that people feel too ashamed to declare bankruptcy would explain the broad support among the public for social safety net programs.

Hope that's helpful --

Chris