What does that mean?" "I don't know, but it sounds deep. I'll think up an explanation later. - Philip José Farmer

Perhaps God—if there is one—doesn't care," Burton said. "There is no evidence whatsoever that He does.

Actors didn’t have to be politicians, but politicians had to be actors.

The truth is that Trout, like Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury and many others, writes parables. These are set in frames which have become called, for no good reason, science fiction. A better generic term would be 'future fairy tales'. And even this is objectionable, since many science fiction stories take place in the present or the past, far and near.