Reflecting on real-lit vs genre fiction, languagehat tapped a vein that runs deep.

While much genre fiction is certainly guilty of purveying simplistic depictions, they are not the only guilty parties. News organizations and non-fiction authors alike simplify stories to fit readers' narrative expectations. It's not difficult to find examples, just look around -- earlier today an article hit my news stream referencing "Kavanaugh" and now I wish I hadn't Google News searched.

On the bright side, I only skimmed the headlines. However, that just turns news-reading into a Statler & Waldorf skit:

	S: It was obvious!
	W: It was pointless!
	S: It was ... short.

	S+W: I loved it!