[semperfaux]

I don't follow the reasoning. Obviously none of these works are going to perfectly reflect everything about our current reality; that's not the idea. The idea is to think critically about what's actually going on around you, and these stories can be a lens through which to look at your situation.

"Only reading 1984 is not" helpful? I definitely do not agree. Reading at least one of these works at least provides the opportunity to consider its relevance. Reading none of them trivially throws out that potential benefit.

[jsprogrammer]

The person appeared to be advocating real world action based on the contents of a fictional novel. Sure, it is a fact that the story exists and is interesting. That doesn't mean that it prescribes a particular action for people to take in the real world. Anything can happen in a fiction story, but as far as we can tell, the real world is not fiction and is limited in what can happen. This means that it is potentially very dangerous to take actions based on the events of a fictional story, as there is no guarantee (or even a good reason) to believe that the real world operates in the same fashion as any particular fictional world.