In Jimmy Kimmel’s latest mischievous stunt, passersby on the street yesterday afternoon were asked for their opinions on the second presidential debate, which they were told happened “last night.” Now, if you were one of the poor saps who didn’t realize the debate hadn’t actually happened yet, you could still respond in a number of ways that would not be that embarrassing, such as, “Oh, I didn’t realize there was a debate last night,” or even just, “Sorry, I didn’t watch.” But there were some folks who couldn’t bear to admit to such civic indifference, so they faked it, pretending to have watched a debate that hadn’t actually taken place. Ironically, this desire to appear informed ended up having the exact opposite effect.
