How to Find People to Talk To

So, you’re interested in discussing politics or religion or other Deep Issues with other people. What do you do?

You could go on the Internet, but you end up talking to, like, freaky physics professors and stuff, so you’d prefer to talk to real people face to face. You could randomly approach strangers, ask their political affiliation, and refuse to talk to Republicans or Democrats, but that’s kind of weird. So what’s a would-be conversationalist to do?

Inside Higher Ed has a suggestion: tie an orange rag to your backpack:

Shruti Chaganti, an undergraduate at James Madison University, loves to talk politics. But until recently most of her conversations with her peers were about “weekend escapades and drunk stories,” she said.

Now Chaganti wears a piece of orange cloth dangling from her backpack as a symbol that she will embrace all-comers who want serious discourse. “It isn’t that [other students] don’t have ideas about politics,” Chaganti said, “but that they either feel a social stigma or are scared and uncomfortable to talk about it with other people.”

Chaganti is one of thousands of students at James Madison who have donned orange bands as a symbol of their willingness to get down to brass tacks. Orange Band estimates that perhaps 8,000 of the ribbons have been given out.

This is part of an Orange Band Initiative started by students who were uneasy discussing politics with strangers. The idea was to allow people who are willing to commit to open and civil discussions identify each other, so they could start conversations without fear of being beaten up for being unpatriotic or imperialistic.

It’s an interesting idea. I wonder how widespread it is, and how well it works in practice? I never heard of it before now, not that that means anything– I’m not all that plugged in to student culture. I am sort of impressed at the initiative shown by the people who put this thing together.