I'm gonna say a thing that makes me sound more erudite than I really am, then I'm gonna go to bed:

Margaret Atwood wrote "The Handmaid's Tale" in the 80s—it was published in 1985—as a critique of what she saw happening in the United States at that very time. (1 of 4)

She was not psychic. The book was a flat-out critique of the politics of the 1980s. How do I know? I was alive and sentient, and I read the book. What we're facing now didn't happen overnight. Vast swaths of the U.S. have always been "Gilead." (2 of 4)

In a similar vein, "1984" wasn't a prediction of the future, but a critique of post-World War 2 England from George Orwell's perspective. Some of what we call science fiction is speculative, but the best of it is pure social satire. (3 of 4)

It's a problem that we put so little emphasis on literature in this country. If we had more than a nodding acquaintance with good books, we wouldn't find ourselves shocked at the actions of those in power. We'd be ready for them. (4 of 4)