I felt this way in my own home culture as well. I grew up in a red bubble in a blue state in the US, where the underlying currents were no more than “conformity and hometown pride.” Oddly, the only things to be “proud” of were conformity itself and high school football (the pride-surrogate of adults with nothing better to celebrate.) It was all so hollow, and when 9/11 happened it all turned up to… well, 11. Being 12 and saying, “I don’t think this war makes sense” was enough to ostracize one’s self and be bombarded with the brain-dead argument of, “iF yOu hAtE AMURICA tHeN yOu cAn JuSt LEAVE!” Yeah okay, parrot. It was always obvious the kids just absorbed whatever mindless take their parents said (which was, itself, picked up from other people or Fox News.)

Man, thinking of my hometown always brings out a rant… Anyway, I grew up always feeling like a stranger in my own home, bullied and cast aside for not being like the rest. Thank goodness I was able to GTFO and meet people who use their brains as more than a copy/paste bin for other people’s thoughts.