I’d say (1) living in such a place just makes you much less likely to come out, even if you never move, (2) suspecting you can trust someone with a secret is not a good enough reason to tell the secret, and (3) even if you totally trust someone with your secret, you might not trust that he/she will keep the secret.
And I’d say Scott Alexander meets conservatives regularly―but they’re so highbrow that he wasn’t thinking of them as “conservatives” when he wrote that. He’s an extra step removed from the typical Bush or MAGA supporter, so doesn’t meet those. Or does he? Social Dark Matter theory suggests that he totally does.
I’d say (1) living in such a place just makes you much less likely to come out, even if you never move, (2) suspecting you can trust someone with a secret is not a good enough reason to tell the secret, and (3) even if you totally trust someone with your secret, you might not trust that he/she will keep the secret.
And I’d say Scott Alexander meets conservatives regularly―but they’re so highbrow that he wasn’t thinking of them as “conservatives” when he wrote that. He’s an extra step removed from the typical Bush or MAGA supporter, so doesn’t meet those. Or does he? Social Dark Matter theory suggests that he totally does.