Spiral of Silence

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I feel like my views would be too damning for others, especially when I want to share them with other real-life people who I would consider making friends with and then after some time, opening up a little about my views.

it might be a test of possible friendship if you want to talk about certain subjects. Try it and see what happens. Could help you sort potential by learning if you are compatible. If your ideas scare them off, you have saved a lot of trouble later on. tip toe carefully and the first time you take a step toward being yourself, they drop you? Just be who you are, talk about the things important to you, and if others avoid you because of that, aren't you better off looking elsewhere?

Yes, it can be hard for those of us with strong opinions. We want to share them with people, but many people don't want to hear. I hope you can find some friends who share your opinions--or who don't but enjoy having intelligent debates. There's not enough of those these days.

I think its perfectly possible to hold strong views, even ones which aren't currently fashionable or popular as long as you remember that:

Other opinions are possible

Other opinions are not necessarily incorrect

No one bases their opinion entirely on objective facts and data - and you can be just as blind to your biases as anyone else.

The problems happen when people are so entrenched in their opinions that they can't conceive that they may be partially or entirely mistaken, that everyone who is right-minded should think the way they do or that their preferred interpretation represents 'common sense'.