The Spiral of Silence, Communism, and Conservative Summer Camp

Reading about the Spiral of Silence both in it's original, political context, and in today's context of ubiquitous media and ubiquitous surveillance reminded me of one way I coped with my own unpopular opinion.

Less guilty pleasure than dependably-uncomfortable-dinner-conversation, my unpopular opinion began when my parents sent a curious, high-school freshman Marco to a Conservative summer camp to learn about politics. 

I decided I would be a Communist before I even got to camp: I didn't do well with the Conservative and political type; I wanted to spite them. But after reading some seminal works, I was convinced that Communism had a point. I spent the week arguing sincerely from my red heart--cutting off every opportunity for making friends. And thanks to an adolescent lack of respect, I took every disagreement, false equivocation, and outburst from the man-child counselors and campers as more reason to stand my ground. 

After the camp, I was a proud Marxist. But I never found myself surrounded by outspoken, Socialism-hating Conservatives again. Instead, my casually progressive friends thought I called myself a Communist because I was hungry for attention(probably). All that poisonous, negative feedback that made me feel like I was standing up for something was gone. I got tired of trying to explain myself. I stopped calling myself a communist, even if I still believed I was. 

Somehow, really pissing off people I didn't like kept me from feeling the isolation at camp: I was the only Communist at my camp. Instead it was when my friends stopped taking me seriously that I started to feel alienation. 

But then I met a Marxist professor. Over the course of a year, I met more like-minded professors that made my beliefs feel legitimate and relevant again. Now I'm back on top of the Spiral of Silence.