Originally Posted by
johnnybourbon
I imagine what he's referring to is telling stories with less topical politics. The thing about the classics that everyone like to cite as political (Days of Future Past, original Secret Empire, God Loves, etc) are that the politics they address are timeless, they are Human stories, not partisan stories. Fiction can be an awesome vehicle to address social concerns but it requires a more nuanced understanding than regurgitating political talking points, hashtags and slogans on page.
Most of the controversial modern stuff doesn't compare to DoFP and the like, an adept comparison would be more like the anti-drug books of the 80s, the early anti-commi/cold war stuff, the post 9/11 propaganda. These books are looked backed on with a cringe because they are topical, time sensitive, and beat you over the head with dated political messages. That's a far cry from a dystopian story that address's the darker side of human nature, or the dangers of authoritarian structures, or distrusts of our governing bodies. These stories, political as they may be, still manage to speak to a wide audience and not just their own echo chamber. I imagine [I]that[I] is the sort of politics he's referring to, there's a difference between telling a story and building a soapbox.