I don't understand why the author is posing this as an either-or proposition. Either people are interested in Middle Earth, fantasy, etc, or people are interested in the "here and now".
In my experience, being interested in one thing often interacts in complex and interesting ways with other things. Thus, the more one is interested in, the more one finds new things to be interested in, and the more parallels one finds in unexpected places.
Fantasy is not wholly unconnected from everything else. It's based on reality, and often the interesting thing is its departure from reality. You have to understand reality to fully appreciate the gaps. And that kind of mental stretching is, I would think, almost the opposite of stagnation.
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In my experience, being interested in one thing often interacts in complex and interesting ways with other things. Thus, the more one is interested in, the more one finds new things to be interested in, and the more parallels one finds in unexpected places.
Fantasy is not wholly unconnected from everything else. It's based on reality, and often the interesting thing is its departure from reality. You have to understand reality to fully appreciate the gaps. And that kind of mental stretching is, I would think, almost the opposite of stagnation.