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?
If you organize you will usually make friends along the way. Not with everyone, of course, but it is eaay to pick up a few if you are nice and invite people to do things.
There are many activities that attract left people. For example, you might have a local mask bloc and COVID cautious people. This will be made up of people who care about COVID, i.e. have not bought into liberal normalization, which will include people more impacted by it like people with disabilities or just people who are consistent in their understanding and empathy. You’ll be sure to find some anarchists, DemSocs, and commies in there along with some liberals that are close to radicalization. Food not bombs, Palestine protests, anything anti-imperialist, movie nights with lefty movies, (sometimes) union events, teach-ins. Sometimes you can find these things online. Sometimes they’ll be on library bulletin boards or pasted on telephone poles.
You might also look for people tabling near suburban loci like grocery stores. Even though suburbanites are spread out they tend to all go to the few commercial outfits nearby, especially grocery stores.