Unfortunately, most modern "social media" are geared more towards adertisers than community members. They prioritize standardized, short-form, attention-grabbing content that appeals to the lowest common denominator and can elicit strong emotions (be they positive or negative), over serious discussions. It is no wonder they have become a breeding ground for vanity and hypocrisy, a constant arena of battles for likes and followers where many kinds of dirty tactics can be used to put down opponents.
On the other hand, imageboards, with their enforced anonymity and almost complete lack of moderation, tend to attract primarily the same kind of people who write on bathroom walls, with similar sense of humor and overall content quality.
Fortunately, there are some websites that give much opportunity for self-expression without resulting in complete chaos. For example, DeviantArt has many different kinds of "-ists" that still manage to coexist somehow without ruining each other's experience. Another good place to find people with unusual interests might be Neocities and the whole "small web" (indie web) community (personal websites, webrings, forums, chats). Before Reddit, there were forum hosting websites with directories such as ProBoards and Forumotion. Many of them still exist. There also standalone forums on various subjects.
For a person with broad interests and an unconventional worldview, it is hard to find a single website to satisfy all your needs, but there are many interesting things on the Internet outside of major corporations' spheres of influence.
