LR question help please

[AutumnFall]

Critic: People today place an especially high value on respect for others; yet, in their comedy acts, many of today's most popular comedians display blatant respect for others. But when people fail to live up to the very ideals they hold in highest esteem, exaggeration of such failings often forms the basis of successful comedy. Thus the current popularity of comedians who display disrespect in their acts is hardly surprising.


The critic's argument depends on which one of the following assumptions?

D) People who value an ideal especially highly do not always succeed in livng up to this ideal.
E) People today fail to live up to their own ideals more frequently than was the case in the past.




Answer is D and I picked E. I understand why D makes sense.. but it's difficult for me to reason why E can't be the answer. Can someone help me figure it out? 

[giveme170]

when people fail to live up to the very ideals they hold in highest esteem, exaggeration of such failings often forms the basis of successful comedy.

This conditional statement is the gist of the argument.
Answer choice D is the paraphrased version of the SC, therefore making 'the comedy' trend NECESSARY, which justifies the conclusion.
Answer E is irrelevant, as what affects the argument is the the condition that 'people fail to live up to the ideals', the degree to which they do so, whether they do it more now than what they did before, does not matter. As long as they still fail to do so AT LEAST sometimes would justify the consequence(the trend in comedy).
Hope this helps. 

[AutumnFall]

Thanks! That helped a lot! I didn't catch the "sufficient.. necessary" pattern there, haha.

[upgrade]

Which test is this question from?  I can see E is wrong, but am curious about the others because D does not look like something that would stand out at me.

[lp1283]

It was in LSAC's Sample PrepTest:

Critic: People today place an especially high
value on respect for others; yet, in their comedy
acts, many of today’s most popular comedians
display blatant disrespect for others. But when
people fail to live up to the very ideals they hold
in highest esteem, exaggeration of such failings
often forms the basis of successful comedy. Thus
the current popularity of comedians who display
disrespect in their acts is hardly surprising.
The critic’s argument depends on which one of the
following assumptions?

(A) People who enjoy comedians who display
disrespect in their acts do not place a high value
on respect for others.

(B) Only comedians who display blatant disrespect in
their acts are currently successful.

(C) Many people disapprove of the portrayal of
blatant disrespect for others in comedy acts.

(D) People who value an ideal especially highly do
not always succeed in living up to this ideal.

(E) People today fail to live up to their own ideals
more frequently than was the case in the past.

[bloomlaw]

That question blows. I hate ones like that.

[upgrade]

Without diagramming, I would have probably selected A primarily because the conclusion has one of the elements in that answer and the other is found in the premises.  I'm not even sure how I would diagram this question.

Is this a paraphrase of the sub-conclusion or just a premise that supports that the sub-conclusion does indeed happen?

[lp1283]

IMO

Main Conclusion: "Thus, the current popularity of comedians who display disrespect in their acts is hardly surprising."

Why?

When people don't have respect for others, the "exaggeration of that disrespect" is often the basis of a successful comedy.

What has to be assumed:

If Successful, then you are Popular.

Today's Most Popular Comedian = Person (part of this people group)

AND:

People (as a whole) hold place high value on respect for others.

SO:

CR (D)  People [Comedian] who value an ideal especially highly do not always succeed in living up to this ideal [Respect].
_____________________________ ______________

(A) is wrong because the stimulus is not talking about the people who enjoy comics. Its talking about the comics themselves. (This is the "Bait & Switch" answer choice) If negated, this AC would support the argument instead of weaken it (See Powerscore LRB).

(B) is an exaggeration by using "only"

(C) is irrelevant

(E) is wrong because use of the word "today" doesn't necessarily mean that it wasn't the same/different in the past, it could of been "less frequently".  Its irrelevant (as mentioned before).

[EarlCat]

Answer E is irrelevant, as what affects the argument is the the condition that 'people fail to live up to the ideals', the degree to which they do so, whether they do it more now than what they did before, does not matter. As long as they still fail to do so AT LEAST sometimes would justify the consequence(the trend in comedy).
Hope this helps. 

This is one of the most important points about this argument because the test writers love to do this.  Introducing a matter of degree is a VERY common wrong answer choice on the LSAT, and one that should raise huge red flags.  Look for this mistake in answer choices when you study.  You will see it all the time and it should become an insta-presto-elimination.

[AutumnFall]

Thanks for everyone's feedback! Many of the wrong answer choices I bubble seem to be irrelevant to the stem. I'll be an a lookout for the matter of degree, Earl Cat. I like your avatar btw. Cats rule.