Read the excerpt below and identify the author's rhetorical strategy:

"Critics dismiss universal basic income as a utopian fantasy that encourages societal indolence. However, trial data from multiple pilot programs reveals precisely the reverse: recipients predominantly utilize the financial floor to pursue vocational retraining, care for elderly relatives, or launch small entrepreneurial ventures."

The author's primary rhetorical strategy is to:

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. rebut a widespread criticism by citing empirical outcome data

  1. Step 1: Analyze rhetorical structure: the author states the critics' accusation ('utopian fantasy that encourages societal indolence'), introduces 'However', and brings in empirical trial data demonstrating constructive outcomes (vocational training, eldercare, entrepreneurship).
  2. Step 2: This is a classic argumentative rebuttal using counter-evidence to dismantle a skeptical claim.
Answer
rebut a widespread criticism by citing empirical outcome data.
Why not the others: 'condemn all recipients of social assistance programs as indolent' describes the view of the critics whom the author refutes; 'prove that technological automation has eliminated all jobs' is not the focus of the excerpt; 'advocate for the immediate abolition of all corporate taxation' is completely unmentioned.

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