Why you can't trust writers

I'll start with the most popular reference available during the first
half of this decade and proceed to an area which virtually no one
discusses.

In the third or fourth episode of the OC, Ryan winds up working at the
local beach diner. There he meets a co-worker: some other guy from the
mean streets of LA. They connect, theoretically, because of this.
Their discussion goes something like this:
- Isn't this place really rich and fucked up
- Totally everyone's totally fake and plastic.
The one line that the guy (not Ryan) said that stuck with me was:
- There are some real people out here.
And as he said it he seemed to have a genuine look in his face. Now, I
imagine it's relatively easy for an actor to do a teenager, but still
kudos to him for his delivery.

So the story continues with him bringing Ryan and his step brother to
whatever party. And then the next time he comes to their party (in
Newport), with a couple of cronies. They trash the place, and when the
kids from Newport start fighting back, the guy pulls out a gun. A
fucking gun!! You're in NO WAY real!!

Now, I admit that we shouldn't look to the OC for what good writing
is. But the point is not expectations. The point is the moment when
the guy said, "There are some real people out here" he was completely
serious and I thought it was maybe the way people acted in real life.

I was going to expand into more reputable shows, but I think there is
no need. The point is that I've found the same thing applies even to
good shows like the Sopranos.

Let me describe, instead, the way in which I am offended by this kind
of lying. First, while I thought I was learning a bit about life and
maybe how to act when I get out there, turns out none of it is
practical knowledge. Second, it convinces me that I can't believe that
characters good writers create actually exist. I'm permanently on the
defensive-- waiting for the moment the character betrays all reality.
Call it a subtle deus ex machina.

This does however, go to reassure me of how good Ulysses really is. In
a way Leopold Bloom is more real than me or you.