Mind shift

On a break from Hamlet, my professor of English literature worried about the future of civilization, threatened by the U2 types who sang that fiction was "even better than the real thing". That was back in 1995, in St. Louis, MO, during my AFS year. He said the richness of real life is our greatest treasure and understanding it our responsibility and only protection against collapse.

Today on the bus, there is an add about apple juice. It reads: real is better.

To be or not to be, that is indeed the question.

But that depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is, doesn't it ;) ?