cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30817458

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that I need to expand my social circle. Most people I’m in a position to see in real life regularly are filled with a lot of brainworms: owning property is seen as a goal that one would be crazy not to pursue, the police and military are seen as sacred institutions, and I even know a few trumpanzees. I need to make new connections, but I’m a weird suburbanite shut-in with a weird demeanor that is offputting to normal people, and I’m worried that trying to meet new friends through my existing friends will just further entrench me into the petite bourgeois crackershpere.

How do you meet based people when you’re just far enough from the nearest city for regular travel back and forth to be inconvenient and are bad at making friends in the first place?

  • TyMan210 [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    22·
    8 days ago

    I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to people in general, but you may be surprised by how far left some people in DSA are. I’m in sort of a similar area where I’m too far from my nearest major city (Atlanta) to make it to events regularly, but still want to be involved. While I was in DSA, there were plenty of people active in the Slack server, ranging from socdems to incredibly well-read MLs. Even if you can’t make it to a protest or something, they usually still have social events too that come with more advance notice.

    I also wouldn’t shy away from being friends with “normal” people. The whole project of the left requires getting those people on our side, and a lot of them are most likely not going to come to the correct conclusions on their own without someone to help them along

    • Sleepless One@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      I’ve been getting the “join an org” advice here a lot and it seems like the most straightforward idea.

      I also wouldn’t shy away from being friends with “normal” people. The whole project of the left requires getting those people on our side, and a lot of them are most likely not going to come to the correct conclusions on their own without someone to help them along

      I think my small social circle and lack of branching out has given me a very skewed idea of what “normal” is. Having most people I know be cishet white guys who have never been particularly at risk of going without food or failing to make rent, while seeing just how many people struggle online, is turning me into the joker.