Fiction affects the way people see the world. Shakespeare virtually invented modern English and the idea of the human personality as an ever changing thing. You don't think something like Uncle Tom's Cabin or 1984 had an effect on history?
No kidding. People clamor to be emotionally manipulated by made up stories.
You don't think something like Uncle Tom's Cabin or 1984 had an effect on history?
Of course it did, and that IMHO is a real problem.