>I walk everywhere because of my medical condition. Your advice to not be different if I want to not stand out is one I am, in some sense, fundamentally incapable of complying with.You admitted yourself that the behavior is bizarre for the society you reside in - that's enough to stand out. I'm not saying you're in a position to change your behavior or even that you should. But you seem to be aware that it goes against social norms and attracts attention. Yet you turn around and act surprised and disgusted that it does. That seems disconnected to me.
>But I do see something incredibly problematic in the assumptioin, that you apparently agree with, that if I do not comply with the car owning cultural standard, other people have some right to butt into my life on grounds that I deserve it for the crime of being weird.
Putting words in my mouth. What I do agree with is that people have the right to speak to you and it is expected when in a public place within a social culture. I simply disagree with your social expectations and consider it more harmful to promote an isolated society over one where an occasional intrusion is beneficial. They can be irritating to an individual at times, but promoting a standard of isolation and ignoring other's is not something I can agree with.
Yesterday, the power was out in my town for scheduled maintenance. I went over to my neighbor's house to ask if they were busy. Did I have any right to know if they were busy or not? No, how rude of me. They politely told me they had nothing to do and were waiting for the power to come back on. I did the oppressive act of asking them if they would like to play Chess until the power came on. Did I have the right to butt into his life like that? No, but he agreed to pass the time. In the end we enjoyed several hours of Chess until the power came back on.
What I should have done is sat in a pitch-black house for 3 hours because I have absolutely no right to trespass onto private property to commit the revolting act of speaking to someone. I'm a terrible person for asking them to essentially be my entertainment while the power was out. I'm also an asshole for discriminating by age and suggesting Chess of all things, because I assumed a 70 year old man would be more familiar or willing to play Chess than Cards Against Humanity or some other time waster.
Perspective matters. Your story made it seem like you felt you were being grilled because people were even trying to speak to you, you assume, because you are walking and that is bizarre. If you want to give it a narrative or illustrate how they were acting classist - what they say is a lot more important than the mere attempting to speak to you part.
I don't agree that we would live in a better society if we ignored one another because we don't have explicit or implicit (ie: being at a social place like a bar or club) permission to speak with someone. Sometimes both parties benefit from unsolicited discussion. Other times one party gets annoyed. It's a trade off - and one I see as worth making.