Anyways, I checked out your other comments and I regret getting into an argument about this. You seem much smarter than me in many ways, and I welcome your contributions, and while I personally feel that 'the collective' here will consider some of it noise and very downvotable (possibly even hellbannable), I hope that doesn't happen and that you stick around. Again, my apologies for what I suppose could be considered participating in or enforcing groupthink.

EDIT: let me add that I'm certifiably weird and perhaps that's made me sensitive to these kinds of things. sometimes it's best to 'soften' the edges so that engagement is possible in the first place, and sometimes that increases the chances that I can actually discuss my 'weird' beliefs without being dismissed. I've not figured out the right balance, and I'm not even 100% sure that finding a balance is the right thing. but it's what prompted this.

My approach has been, for about the past decade or two, to spend a lot of time, energy, and possibly happiness, on figuring out how to blend in and be inoffensive. I'm not entirely sure it was worth it, but at least I feel it's allowed me to be my 'authentic' self without being dismissed in many situations, so that's something. And there are even times when I feel validated, which I think is quite valuable. We're social creatures ultimately, most of us anyways.

Considering my uncertainty about this approach, though, I shouldn't be lecturing others!