Remarkably, I'm surrounded by people who think differently than I do. It's incredibly frustrating because in order to have a rational and meaningful conversation about anything, I first have to educate them and bring them up to speed. 

I stopped attempting to do that over 10 years ago when I realized that they were very resistant to it and it was like drawing blood from a stone. 

I also realized that even if they cared to have an informed and intelligent conversation, they weren't actually capable of synthesizing anything I had to say, and rejected it all without rationale, just because it didn't the popular narrative that validated their social, political, or economic world view. 

I would love to have just one close friend who thought like me. 

 we all have him —> @saylor