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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 28, 2022

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How is it so hard to find the Normies ? A good 70% of people I run into have no idea about politics and are too busy with their 1-2 "things" to find any extra time for it.

Hyper-online people who socialize through hyper online activities will find hyper online communities. Yes, you are more likely to run into polarized people in sociology-liberal arts circles, D&D/board game parlors or non-fiction book clubs. But, make friends through offline activities pick-up-sports or music or hikers and they tend to be normier and less online than the former group.

One thing I'd suggest is to develop a thick skin against people who watch CNN once a day or read google-news every morning or listen to NYT daily as their source of information. They have surface level knowledge of issues and surface level takes. No need to dwell on them too much. It is not like they will talk about it for more than 5 minutes, because that's as much as they know about it. Take in from one ear and let it out from another. Like hanging out with your grandparents. "LALALALA, grand-mom I didn't hear you tell me that I should stay out of the sun because if I become black, then no-one will want to be with me." You choose to love them despite those little quirks.

Try becoming friends with first generation immigrants. They usually have a lot for sympathy for those who feel outsiders in a culture, and are more tolerant towards opinions that diverge from the liberal consensus. First gen immigrants are also delighted to have a token American in their group, as they learn a lot about how to integrate through the eyes of the American.

I'd also suggest living with roommates who want to build a community. People are more tolerant towards non-consensus views of a roommate who has built good by living alongside them for months, than a random acquaintance they meet at the bar. Also, it takes zero effort to access your community. They are literally next door.

I like hiking for a similar reason. Your acquaintance is suddenly also your emergency contact. They pass you water if you run out and sun screen if you forget it. Builds good will. Then take the fact that you have 5-10 hours of alone time to talk about topics with nuance and your opinions get to stand by themselves, unencumbered by highly-polarizing elevator pitches.