Timothy Paradox

Met my old friends again, which I will call F and B. Or at least I considered them friends... Until for some reason they started hating me, the reasons mostly political. As the world grew more polarized, so did we. I'm a rationalist and centrist (from my point of view, I know), they were very much on the far-left of the spectrum. It didn't work.

So I met them again somewhere, and F talked about his time in university (which was ages ago in real life). He said they "at least banged the (forgot subject) teacher before the end of the year". I was a little... surprised he would speak of such explicit things, but I just said "really, cool!" or something like that. Then he said it was more of a gangbang, and the teacher was a dude. This really surprised me, as I realized this meant he was gay - a fact I didn't know about him. I don't recall what I said (it was a rhetorical question, out of surprise, not negative judgement), but he instantly interpreted as if I was being homophobic (they have always seen me as a Nazi, just for not buying into their radical leftist ideas) and offensive. The disgust on his face... summarized exactly how I feel my former friends feel about me. Clearly, I'm not over it. Then the other 'friend', B, suggested I was an antisemitist. Not sure how the conversation went that way. I defended myself and said I wasn't... because I'm not, the suggestion is ludicrous. He dismissed my defense, with that same look of disgust as the other friend from before. They hated me... for being something I am not! If only they could see through my eyes, or look into my mind, and see I am none of the things they think I am. Anyway, he pulled out his phone, opened Facebook and showed a comment I made on a picture as evidence of my "antisemitism". It was a pro-Israel post condemning atrocities committed against them. Despising hypocrisy, I replied something sarcastic, reminding them of how the atrocities they are committing themselves (in Palestine, presumably). And that was, from B's point of view, evidence I was a Jew-hating Nazi.

I felt miserable when I woke up. The world has gone insane. Or is it just me who has gone insane?