When Should Politics be Included?

Politics? When should someone have it welded into a medium. Well that has many factors. Nowadays I think that aspect has also killed many lines of fiction, esp in Science Fiction and Fantasy, but to the basic points.

What my brain kneejerks on when it comes to this issue. AKA "Frack that shit I'm out!" 

Hamfisting them in:

• Oh look, its the writers own politics mouthpiece: The series. Pass.
• Current Year, this is super cereal important issue dear reader! Pass.
• We need more X in genre mentality/Soapboxes. Pass.
• R vs D, the straw-man brigade and the ENLIGHTENED MC will make fools of everyone. Pass.
• The gritty realism of (IMPORTANT ISSUE HERE). Pass.
• Its just like Watchmen. Pass. But superheros are UNREALISTIC, HUMANS SUCK! Pass.
• Look at this! VITAL! What story? Its just there as window dressing to this REAL ISSUE! Pass.
• They/their/them. Preferred PRONOUNS. Pass. Who the frack nuggets is speaking? Frack me. That shit might work in first person. Maybe. 
 

Some examples of Politics(IDENTITY) that use their books as a pulpit for the "dumb" reader masses. Wherein any story goes to die, only the writer's DIVERSITY/Train of Thought, is the only thing that matters + a METRIC FUCK TON of Navel Gazing:

These are my golden rules for politics in any medium:

• They must serve that setting. Not be the sole proprietor of that setting. 
• Make it more then just the stereotype of Dems vs Rep. That shit is on tv all day. Yawn.
• More then skin deep. Give opposing characters a variety of good and bad traits. 
• Make sure its optimal for your setting/genre. People expect it more in certain sub categories. 
• Don't talk down to your readers. If your series has a decent enough following, it means you have a base which doesn't share your own politics. It will have a myriad of different outlooks. Which means you managed to win people over on entertainment value alone. Or strength of the setting/characters/story. NOT because you wave a certain type of flag on your sleeve. 

What's funny, is Grant did the political modern day stuff just fine in her original feed trilogy:

IE: The story was paramount, while the politics were in the background. They didn't knock me out of the story but in recent years she's become even more insistent on wearing things on her sleeve in her books. Left Leaning writers can make good stories, like below, even Grant. Its whiplash.

It happened to Jean Johnson too, her first series here was a good balance, politics served the story, not the story serving the politics: Theirs Not To Reason Why


Plus if you don't follow the Hugo tribe-work to the letter and if you are a white dude, then you must move aside for more "diverse" people. Because vagina. Or arbitrary skin color requirements. It's infuriating to me because that award used to mean exceptional.

My preferences are mostly entertainment. If its military scifi, wherein the factions against one another are humans, politics are expected. But to really make it work, it has to be more then surface level lip service.

Familiary breeds apathy. Since the 24hr cycle is a thing, Quite frankly, This seagull don't give a fuck no more.

So I'm just gonna try to put my positivity into promoting fun books, finding fun books, reading fun books. See you next time Space Cowboy.