Yes fear and anxiety affect rational thought but I also believe there are way too many people in this world who are unable to participate in rational thought.

So they are saying that good exciting fiction can sell anything, however silly the idea you are selling as long as the fiction is really crude, dramatic and pushes the lowest common denominator buttons.

You could for example, get a whole series of authors to write a string of books, about a tribe of nomadic shepherds fighting to overthrow far more numerous and technically advanced peoples, and steal their lands. You could have many setbacks, lots of lost battles and some won, a proper soap opera, with many heroes all failing in the end, due to moral temptation, really evil male villains, lot of nicely misogynistic female villains, and a final hero who saves the day but fails to overthrow the main villain completely, so that the threat remains ready for future installments. Bet that would sell anything.

Bottom line seems to be the ability to discern fact from fiction. I enjoy horror films, fantasy, Science Fiction, political suspense plots, etc, but I know that fiction is fiction & do not get my "news" from these sources.