i think the reason "fiction affects reality" trips so many people up is because they think it means "engaging with media that depicts uncomfortable subjects will taint your soul" when really all it means is that "fiction is meant to reflect certain ideas of the world intentionally or not, and it's going affect your perception of it, if you don't go in with a healthy bit of skepticism"
like playing a first person shooter isn't going to turn you into a school shooter, but that doesn't mean that Call of Duty isn't like. explicitly military propaganda.
or (for a more specific but also weirdly common example) enjoying horror movies isn't going to turn you into a serial killer, but if you watch a lot of horror where the killer is "a gender confused man who kills women whilel dressed in drag, because his repressed female split personality hates his attraction to women because it gives her gender dysphoria" than you should like. be a bit criticial of what you're enjoying. or something like that.
