Just As It Really Is

Liked this quote from John Updike when he was 15 (!) writing about the Little Orphan Annie comic strip:

I admire the magnificent plotting of Annie’s adventures. They are just as adventure strips should be—fast moving, slightly macabre (witness Mr. Am), occasionally humorous, and above all, they show a great deal of the viciousness of human nature. I am very fond of the gossip-in-the-street scenes you frequently use. Contrary to comic-strip tradition, the people are not pleasantly benign, but gossiping, sadistic, and stupid, which is just as it really is.

Just as it really is. I don't want to believe it, but alas, I find it to be true more often than not.
Hat tip: Alan Jacobs