There is one context when truth beats fiction - cold hard reality which cannot be fooled. Unfortunately often takes the form of ruin from war, fammine, pestilen

There is one context when truth beats fiction - cold hard reality which cannot be fooled. Unfortunately often takes the form of ruin from war, fammine, pestilence, or economics. Imperial Japan is a good example of a "delusional empire" - they insisted upon Banzai Charges and Kamakazi squandering their experience. Or Lysenkoism and the Great Leap Forward.