Food. I work with a pretty diverse bunch of people from all different places and we always end up talking about food. What we ate recently, what we’re having for dinner, what someone made that surprised us, what we ate at recent functions, what our favourite childhood foods were, something new we tried recently… it goes on and on as an endlessly varied topic. It really does seem to be a great unifier of people. I never ever get sick of talking about food!

Reddit is greedy and deserves whatever it gets

I’m sensitive to rejection so both in person and online I try to be agreeable and also find common ground with people. If someone’s stressed out at work and takes it out on me I tend to give them a bit of time to cool down then come and apologise and that seems to go a long way. It may seem silly but I think people refuse to apologise cause they don’t feel they’re in the wrong but I find it calms people down quickly and then I can bring up my viewpoint highlighting that it’s just how I view things and that doesn’t make their view any less legit.

It’s difficult to have a discussion on serious topics without getting divisive.

Hobbies are great topics, because they can be discussed without everyone having to agree.

Warm drinks and blankets on cold rainy days

Cold drinks in the shade by water on sunny hot days

Sleep is nice

Random acts of kindness, cute children and pets so in short anything that qualifies for r/wholesome

I guess the answer depends a lot on how big your scope is. For any given topic, you will find people disagreeing if you look hard or long enough. And simultaneously, almost any topic can be a source of unity for a group of people, if your scope is small enough.

I thought protecting our livelihoods, on which we depend with our very lifes, should be a clear and uncontroversial unifier. But apparently climate change and mass extinction are controversial topics for some people. While at the same time, these topics create some very tight knit communities for other people.

But maybe you are looking for answers like: Music, dancing, sports, humor, shared values, shared experiences.

Solidarity. Relating to the shared human experience that we all have instead of only the differences, as we’re all human after all. Talking to people with an intent to grow and learn, and that also means knowing when an argument is worth pursuing and whether or not posting or commenting is worth it. Understanding people whose views might seem completely alien and opposite of your own, even if it’s difficult. You don’t have to believe the same things, but trying to understand where people are coming from at least helps in humanizing them, and in effect, ourselves as well.

Cats!

The whether is a classic… And I hate it😅

Unfortunately, the best way to bring angry people together is a good scapegoat.

Cats. Cats are nice.

I don’t think that there are topics that bring people together, not all of us. The closest thing is pointing to a common enemy (like politicians do or like we do with reddit APIs)

careful, youll end up making a list of things someone will try to find a way to divide people over

Just don’t watch the news, you can’t change it, so why worry about it?

And then you’ll find almost anything else - shared tastes in anything from wine to video games to hiking or movies, etc. you can talk about.

I hate the sort of toxic doomerism and sensationalism that has taken over the internet recently, and the focus on identity rather than more anonymous discussions finding common ground.

Like it’s bizarre to see people arguing over the accuracy of precise troop movements of foreign countries thousands of miles away (on both sides), when you could better spend that time relaxing in the sun, playing video games and watching movies, visiting new places or reading new books, etc.