This post was made from the suggestion of an E-friend.
Edit: 7/7/22 - Minor additions
As Luke Smith wrote, Political savvy matters less than you think. For the redpilled individual, what matters is viewing relationships in a practical manner, and not shooting yourself in the foot over frustrating but meaningless disagreements. Building up a “mask” and a complete social network will take time, humility, and improvisation, but it will make you a more complete social navigator.
Chill the fuck out, man.
As prophecied by Zarathustra, when God is dead, we must figure out our own ways of living.
“God” doesn’t have to be literal. “God” could stand for society’s values and de-facto religions. In our secular society, our God is the ideology of liberalism, plus popular culture and the values it advertises. As many have found out, rejecting these things will make life more difficult.
The conflict between the person who sees the puppet strings and the puppeteered is a concept at least as old as Plato’s cave, repeated in Zarathustra’s rejection by the commonfolk and shown yet again in the NPC meme.
Meme magic is a dangerous thing, and both ends of the NPC/Uncle Ted false dichitomy are harmful. To be fair, an NPC would have been much better off in times of yore: grow up on a family farm, eat a healty diet of organic foods, marry at a young age and have a big, happy family, so long as you pay your taxes to the king and listen to your priest. Now, we grow up in rapidly-decaying state indoctrination centers, eat mass-produced food that we know (and may not yet know) is bad for us, and genuine relationships, let alone marrying and having children, is becoming a rare luxury.
Yet, the Uncle Ted “lone wolf” archetype sows upon fallow ground as well. The Roman Empire wasn’t taken down by a lone peasant with some gunpowder, it was weakened internally and finished off by an army led by an opposing elite. “Lone wolves” are objective failures in all matters except publicity, which is moot in the era of corporate media. The wolves simply throw away their lives and give society’s rulers an excuse to grasp more power.
In these tough times, even the middle ground isn’t easy. Self-improvement is slow and mundane.
Thusly, we are tempted into spectacle-driven extremes because they’re quick and sexy. We want to “own the libs epic style” in a public debate or form a mob and smash passers-by in the face with a bike lock. But once the spectacle is over, what you’re left with is a viral video and the same shitty McJob you’ve been working for the past 4 years. The status and agency we’re implicitly promised by participating doesn’t exist, but it’s sexy and gives us a momentary feeling of accomplishment. Perhaps this is because it would have made a difference in a rural village or hunter-gatherer community. In those times, the audience would know you, personally remember your actions and reward or punish you for them. Today, you're an anonymous actor in a promptly-forgotten performance.
For more reserved, intellectual types, this may manifest as new, offensive ideologies and philosophies that promise to show you the secrets of the universe. But again, it makes no practical difference whether the burger-flipping McDrone has read Nietzche. He has no status or power, but at least he can claim moral victory over well-off “normies” for uncovering the nasty secrets of the demiurge or whatever.
Political engagement has diminishing returns. Ironically, the more time you spend on pondering the important issues of our time, the less time you have to gain the power and real-world experience needed to implement a solution.
Even if you hope to become a revolutionary thought leader, revolutions are led by those with money and power (social influence), not morally-superior yokels with no capital or organization. And gaining power means making compromises and knowing when to keep your mouth shut.
Instead of attacking, running from, or completely submitting to the powers that be, the middle ground is to keep society at arm’s length. With this, you can live a somewhat fulfilling life without being consumed by the vice of the modern world.
It’s difficult to re-enter normal society when your identity has been shaped by being an outsider. Normal people will frustrate you in ways they won’t understand or bother to change. Shitlibs and normies will frustrate you with their religious subservience to the insane, and moderates will frustrate you with their sophistry and inaction. Don’t count on changing their minds.
A utilitarian perspective helps to ease the cognitive dissonance when your peers don’t match your ideals. Your favorite mechanic is a Cuckservative? Your car gets fixed whether he’s based or not, don’t piss him off. You want to learn art but most art students are lefties? Use your peers as a means to improve your skills and don’t comment on political issues. Smile and nod. Coworkers trooning out their kids? Not worth sticking my neck out for someone who’s that far gone.
Of course, how much silence you can tolerate is a matter of personal temperament. It’s “logical” to anonymously prostitute oneself for a million dollars, but the irreperable damage to one’s self-image is something money can’t fix. You can be around people you hate for higher pay, but it will cost your your happiness.
Overall, I think the most important method of keeping one’s sanity is a well-developed social circle. Just as different individuals are better at different things, different people serve different roles in your life, and expecting one or two people to fulfill all your social needs is unrealistic. You wouldn’t expect a Computer Science teacher to also be a master in seducing women, now would you?
If you have an outlet for your pasions (or at least something to clear your head, like exercise), you will be able to tolerate “normal” people more because you won’t have pent-up frustration knawing at your psyche and a desperate need to release it.*
This all seems fantastical when you’re an isolated individual. Depression is a self-reinforcing cycle. Even experiences that should be positive can be tainted by negative, nhilistic thoughts.
This cute 9/10 Trumper girl thinks Hitler is whack! Woe is me, I will never find a decent girlfriend!
You can even reason yourself out of things that will help you.
Nooo I can’t go outside, there’s NORMIES out there. Why would I ever want to be around filthy NORMIES?
You may even lash out at the few people you do have in your life, because they don’t provide what you are lacking, whether that’s an outlet for your passions (i.e. Politics) or a deeper, more meaningful relationship.
Granted, lines must be drawn somewhere. You wouldn’t trust a Gender Studies major to raise your kids. You wouldn’t trust a Cable-news watching shitlib to have your back when the rainbow mafia comes to burn your house down. Keep such people close enough to be useful, but far enough to let go.
This seems very cold and machiavelian (because it is), but that’s the nature of dealing with people you can’t be open and honest with. If it’s too much for you to handle, consider moving somewhere with more like-minded people.
Whether you should bowl alone, blend in, or group up, only you can decide that.