It is very hard to communicate this to someone who hasn't interacted with a diverse group of people or spent a significant amount of time outside North America.

It is very hard to communicate this to someone who hasn't interacted with a diverse group of people or spent a significant amount of time outside North America. I also immigrated to America when I was young, having spent the first decade of my life in a cultural context where communication styles are more direct and the notion of "friendship" is different. Now many decades later, I can say that how people interact with each other here is not something that I accept or understand. Developing genuine connections here is extremely difficult and it doesn't have to be that way. In short, "friendship" as a concept just doesn't exist in America. I've completely given up on trying to make connections with others whose only frame of reference is the image conscious culture here. I can't say I have a lot of close friends but the people in my life who I get along with and appreciate are without exceptions people who recently immigrated here from continental europe, africa, latin america, asia etc.