You can't pander to your audience. You might in the short term, but ultimately you can't hoodwink them, either.
Some people are probably scratching their heads and saying, How did that happen? That's because some of the media didn't give the public the full story.
I've had a tough time with Pynchon. I liked him very much when I first read him. I liked him less with each book. He got denser and more complex in a way that didn't really pay off.