The serial comma exists to prevent accidental absurdity, not to enforce fussiness

Norris defends what's often called the Oxford or serial comma — the comma placed before the final "and" in a list of three or more items — not as an aesthetic preference but as a practical safeguard against sentences that can otherwise be misread in unintentionally funny or confusing ways. Dropping the final comma in a list can occasionally cause the last two items to appear to merge into one entity or apposition, producing sentences that briefly seem to claim absurd things. Norris is careful to note this isn't a moral failing on the part of writers who skip the serial comma; many respected publications and style guides omit it consistently and are simply also consistent about avoiding the specific sentence structures where the ambiguity would bite. Her actual position is less about winning the debate and more about understanding why the comma exists at all, so writers can make an informed choice about when clarity requires it even if their house style generally omits it. Takeaway: the serial comma isn't about rules for their own sake — it's insurance against your sentence accidentally saying something absurd.