PT155 · S1 · Q24 Editorial: Last year, many polls found

The results of many polls are that “most people claim to be X and Y” (tired of tabloids and unwilling to watch them). Does that mean that everyone who claimed to be tired of them also claimed to be unwilling to watch them? No, we know that most people claimed they were both, but it’s perfectly compatible for some people to have claimed to be tired of them but still willing to watch them.

The author’s argument is definitely assuming that some of the people claiming to be unwilling to watch these tabloid shows are in reality still watching them. But does the author need to assume that almost everyone who claims they’re unwilling to watch them is still watching them? No. “Almost everyone” doesn’t have a precise minimum threshold, but we could imagine 90% feeling like almost everyone. Does the author need to assume that 90% of those who claimed they were unwilling to watch were still watching? No. The author’s argument would be fine even if 50% of the people who claimed they were unwilling to watch were still watching. She doesn’t need total hypocrisy for her argument to work. She just needs frequent / often / common hypocrisy. Her conclusion is only promising that people often portray themselves as they wish to be perceived, rather than as how they are. So as long as a decent chunk of the people who claimed to be unwilling to watch are still watching, she can still point to them and say, “See? These people portray themselves as they wish to be seen, not as they are. That’s something people often do.”

The intended thrust of the author’s conclusion was that in the poll, many people were portraying themselves as they wish to be perceived (someone who is above watching trashy tabloid tv) rather than as they are (someone who still does watch tabloid shows). This answer is going for that — some people’s responses did not portray them as they really are. But it adds in the concept of whether or not the people believed they were portraying themselves honestly. The author actually wipes that distinction away as a concern in her conclusion. She isn’t committing to the idea of whether this phenomenon of portraying how you want to look rather than how you are is conscious or unconscious, saying “Whether or not they are aware of it”. So she hasn’t committed one way or the other to the idea of whether or not the people actually believe they’re telling the truth, believe they’re lying, or are lying about themselves in an oblivious way.

You really don’t have to read past the word ‘none’ here. The author was having a general conversation with soft edges, like “most / often”. There’s no reason the author needs to assume 0% about anything. If we negated this and said, “Hey, author — at least one person responded to the poll in a way that portrayed how they actually are”, it wouldn’t hurt the argument. She never said ALL people portray themselves differently; she only said people often do.