[anigbrowl]

I agree with all of that. But the reality is that if you are the low-key, thoughtful nuanced person all the time, you will get ignored and/or steamrollered a lot, because humans are at least as emotional/instinctual as they are rational.

Intergroup conflict is a fact of social life, and resources coalesce around symbols, rallying cries, and so on as well as around negotiated policy, scientific methodology, and so on. If you are very patient or diligent, then you can help good ideas to succeed on their merits - but it's a slow and painstaking process. Strategic opportunism is how a lot of things 'go viral', and it's a skill that can be learned - and must be, if you wish to act as well to be acted upon. Distasteful in some ways, but such is life.