I guess maybe I'm "old fashioned" in the sense that it troubles me that people sell these "stories" without there being much "substance" behind them.

Like you, I am also an artist... and in the art marketplaces, I increasingly see "mass produced copies"* of work portrayed as "originals" and people keep falling for it, meanwhile, we deal with these stories told by politicians whose primary purpose seems only to be "to get elected" and then the promises go out the window...