This Is The Best Way This Topic Could Have Been Explained...

This is the best way this topic could have been explained...

Let’s be clear:

“Fiction doesn’t affect reality” is a claim that falls apart the second you actually think about it.

Fiction teaches.

Fiction influences.

Fiction shapes culture.

It’s used to educate children, to comfort the broken, to send political messages, to reframe beliefs, and yes—even to groom.

If fiction didn’t affect reality, propaganda wouldn’t exist.

Therapeutic self-shipping wouldn’t exist.

Representation wouldn’t matter.

People wouldn’t weep over fictional characters, change because of a story, or gain courage from a narrative.

So when proshippers say “fiction is fiction” as an excuse to normalize harmful content—especially content involving abuse, pedophilia, incest, or grooming tropes—what they’re really doing is choosing to ignore the power fiction actually holds. Especially on young, impressionable minds.

If a children’s show can teach empathy…

If a movie can make someone feel seen…

Then fiction can also plant ideas.

Normalize abuse.

Romanticize trauma.

And desensitize people to real-world harm.

This isn’t about censorship. This is about accountability.

You can enjoy dark fiction.

You can explore themes critically.

But when you defend it with "it's not real" as your only line—

You’re not protecting fiction.

You’re enabling ignorance.

And ignorance has never been harmless.

Because y’all telling me a kid watching Sesame Street or Dora the Explorer gets taught shapes, empathy, languages—but somehow fiction magically loses all influence when it’s toxic, abusive, or romanticizing predatory behavior?