It is now a common complaint that the electronic
media have corroded the intellectual skills required and
fostered by the literary media. But several centuries
ago the complaint was that certain intellectual skills,
such as the powerful memory and extemporaneous
eloquence that were intrinsic to oral culture, were being
destroyed by the spread of literacy. So, what awaits us
is probably a mere alteration of the human mind rather
than its devolution.

The reference to the complaint of several centuries ago
that powerful memory and extemporaneous eloquence
were being destroyed plays which one of the following
roles in the argument?
(A) evidence supporting the claim that the
intellectual skills fostered by the literary media
are being destroyed by the electronic media
(B) an illustration of the general hypothesis being
advanced that intellectual abilities are
inseparable from the means by which people
communicate
(C) an example of a cultural change that did not
necessarily have a detrimental effect on the
human mind overall
(D) evidence that the claim that the intellectual
skills required and fostered by the literary
media are being lost is unwarranted
(E) possible evidence, mentioned and then
dismissed, that might be cited by supporters of
the hypothesis being criticized