Answer:
I believe it is diminishes. 
Explanation:
Diminishes means to make smaller, to become smaller, or to lessen the authority or dignity of; to put down; to degrade; to abase; to weaken; to nerf (in gaming).
It may be softens, though, so apologies if I am incorrect. 
 
        
                    
             
        
        
        
Because she’s a dumb feminist
        
             
        
        
        
Answer:
C. People often get laughed at for speaking up about deep ideas
Explanation:
According to the given excerpt from Endgame by Samuel Beckett, there is a conversation between Hamm and Clov where Hamm asks if they're not beginning to mean something, to which Clov scoffs and laughs at such suggestion. And with the introduction of a rational being, Clov drops his telescope and begins to ponder. 
The theme the passage mostly clearly develops is that people often get laughed at for speaking up about deep ideas 
 
        
             
        
        
        
<span>D.	He is appealing to the audience's sense of logic.
Appealing to the audience's sense of logic is called logos, and it is an important part of the Rhetorical Triangle. Audiences need logic, facts, statistics in order to trust the information that the speaker is presenting. The use of statistics here is appealing to that logic. </span>