nefepants replied to your post “I’m bothered by the phrase ‘fiction influences reality’ for a really,...”
Way to misunderstand what that means. Fiction doesn't affect the weather, but someone making fiction that implies global warming is a myth would affect the way some people view the topic.
I... know what it means? That’s why I suggested ‘fiction influences people’ as an alternative.
I’ve seen people encounter this phrase on it’s own, without the context of how it’s normally used. They do occasionally go ‘wait, these people think fiction influences reality universally? Like, including the weather?’ It’s not a correct conclusion, but from the phrase and the little bits of context they’d seen around it, that was the conclusion they drew. And while ‘fiction influences reality universally’ is a reductio ad absurdum, that can be persuasive. It’s worthwhile trying to avoid people being able to do that.
‘Fiction influences people’ is harder to draw bizarre conclusions from. Also harder to argue against. There’s scores of example admitting fiction influenced them (see: all the politicians who cite Ayn Rand as an influence).
I’ll admit this is an incredibly pedantic point. Like, incredibly. In which case: Hi, I’m WollfyLuna, and I’m incredibly pedantic.