I’m also not convinced it’s a useful interview question because of the issue you raise, but thinking your mainstream views are heretical extends far beyond job interviews.
It seems like whenever I hear people talk about politics, they speak as though they’re persecuted lone wolves going against the current, but they tend to have opinions that something like half the country holds, which I would define as very mainstream.
I also think this occurs with myths that have been “busted,” someone will go around for years thinking that everyone else is sheep for still believing in the myth, when the reality is everyone else read the same article and no one really believes the myth anymore.
And then there are the countless posts on Reddit or Tumblr or Imgur or Facebook where someone dramatically makes a stand, admitting that they will be burned at the stake for their position, to the great applause of everyone watching.
> It seems like whenever I hear people talk about politics, they speak as though they’re persecuted lone wolves going against the current, but they tend to have opinions that something like half the country holds, which I would define as very mainstream.
Half the country and probably most of their social circle.
> Half the country and probably most of their social circle.
I doubt the latter part ("most of their social circle"). I believe many people have some very idiosyncratic (also political) opinions that are so far-off from mainstream that one only voiced them once in their social circle and got really strange reactions.
This (and this is the essence of the first part of your claim) does not imply that there don't exist many people in the country that do/might share this opinion - just (rather) not in your social circle.
It seems like whenever I hear people talk about politics, they speak as though they’re persecuted lone wolves going against the current, but they tend to have opinions that something like half the country holds, which I would define as very mainstream.
I also think this occurs with myths that have been “busted,” someone will go around for years thinking that everyone else is sheep for still believing in the myth, when the reality is everyone else read the same article and no one really believes the myth anymore.
And then there are the countless posts on Reddit or Tumblr or Imgur or Facebook where someone dramatically makes a stand, admitting that they will be burned at the stake for their position, to the great applause of everyone watching.