Software (OS, browser, native apps, web apps, …) should make it easier to use plain text for both read/write clipboard operations. And probably should make it easier to prefer doing that.

I know that’s a lot more words to say a similar thing, but it avoids two problems with how you put it:

1. Not everyone will share your preference. (I’d hazard a guess that it’s a minority preference, albeit one I mostly share.)

2. It’s self-contradictory. The “damn text I copied” is not just an array of characters: it often includes formatting; it frequently interpolates other content that isn’t even text at all.

The latter is largely the basis for the former. You—and I, mostly!—might be after that array of characters. But many many people are after that richer content, and would be utterly baffled by copying something rich only to get that array of characters on the other side. And quite a lot of people would have little recourse to get what they want.

This is why the multipart clipboard solution is a pretty good compromise. It could be better! It could definitely accommodate the preference for plain text. But it can only be better for those of us with that preference, without regressing for the much more common preference, by keeping the common preference as default.