[jjmarr]

Yes, that's why modern literature and media dealing with diverse opinions are terrible now.

You are expected to caricature and refute people saying "bad" opinions in the work itself since otherwise the reader could believe in those opinions. Leaving something open to interpretation is tantamount to endorsement.

[dcre]

There is obviously a lot of space between the two extremes "every opinion is the author's" and "we shouldn't take seriously anything authors write".