Blanford's Fringe-fingered Lizard wrote:I actually think that this is a fantastic leadin for exact reasons you cited for it being bad. First of all, let's break down the levels of association that you stated yourself to support the case for this question being fraudable. You have to know who the Situationists are, you have to know that they probably would like what Marx liked, you'd have to know that Marx admired the Paris Commune. The difficulty of these three associations is tough, tough, and tough. There's just no way that any more than one person in the entire field will fraud it off that clue without actually knowing that clue legitimately -- the question is rewarding you for knowing about something and any inference that you might make to get the answer requires your knowledge of that thing.
You may be right, although I think there are really only two associations you have to make (if you know who the Situationists were, you know they were big fans of Marx), and I think it's relatively well-known that Marx admired the Paris Commune, although admittedly it's harder to go Marx -> Commune than Commune -> Marx. But in any case if you're looking for "something that French Marxists would like and talk about," the Commune is going to be high on that list. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone did manage to fraud it early based on that clue (other than myself, and I don't count since I knew there was a good chance of that answer line being in the packet.)
Anyway, I did manage to 20 the Critique of the Gotha Program/Marx/"from each according to his ability" bonus, so it's possible that I'm more knowledgeable about the history of Marxism than my Robert Nozick-reading self wants to admit.