Well, since you brought it up: I don't think anyone called you a social outcast, but to be honest, your behavior on the forum thus far does not speak to a particularly high level of what you call "social competence." You resurrected a dead thread in order to declare the well-meaning advice of experienced people "doublethink" and made no attempt to back up your assertions. You then proceeded to insult anyone who disagreed with you. Finally, you introduced a sock puppet into the conversation, seemingly to create the illusion that someone on the thread agreed with you. Maybe that's not what you intended, but that's sure how it looked. What would you think of you if you were us?
Why are you here exactly? What about the OP touched a nerve and why did you feel the need to respond the way you did (assuming, of course, that you are not purposefully trolling for attention)?
I responded in kind to any comments I received, I did not initiate any aggression. You'll notice most of the spiteful non-content has been directed against me. I still maintain my position on what I call doublethink. Evidence? Do you want citations or stats? Please. And the "sockpuppet" is a non-point.
I responded because this kind of thinking is making the classroom a neurotic and toxic environment. Coming from Europe, and in my first year of a grad program here, I think this culture of politeness is insipid and anti-intellectual. I can't help it if you choose to react in a hostile fashion when you hear something you don't like.
My advice to you is the same as it would be to an American in a European or Asian grad program:
1) You chose to come to a different country for grad school. You should expect to find differences between your previous experiences and your current experience. If you don't like what you deem the "neurotic and toxic" environment of the place you chose, perhaps you are not a good fit for the school or perhaps for the American system. Or maybe the program is neurotic and toxic and it would be best to escape the situation. But given the way you interact with others here, I think the problem is you rather than the program.
2) If you do wish to stay in your current program and do well, it is wise to adapt to it and to the American system. Academic discourse is different in the States than in Europe. You don't want people thinking of you as the Ugly European when you follow European rather than American norms for academic interaction. I had people from all over the world (Korea, France, Denmark, South Africa) in my grad program. They adapted just fine, but they made the effort to do so. You do not, so far, appear as if you are making the effort.
3) Such adaptation will be particularly important if you interact with undergraduates as a TA or instructor.
4) Watch the faculty in your program to see how they operate. I studied with the foremost experts in 3 different subfields of my discipline when I was in grad school. If they so wished, they could have crushed any of us in their graduate seminars. But they didn't and they did not encourage any efforts of members of their seminars to savage one another. I think there is a lot to be said for that method and of the humility those instructors modeled for us.
5) If there are faculty from your country in your program or institution, perhaps you might ask them for some mentoring in adapting.
