I try to read that particular book once every few years. I'm up to three times, i think, since i first picked it up.

And that line (among many others), gets me every time. Whenever someone asks me for a fact about something (which is rarer than one might think), that line is on the edge of my thought-processes.

Heinlein may be a hack, but that book has some excellent ideas in it. (imho, ymmv, and so on and so forth.)

Otherwise, thank you for this post. I'm in the same area as you, I think, in the "not willing to make an uninformed decision" party, where "uninformed" means "I wasn't in everyone's heads at the time". Also, the complete missing of social cues.
I explain my lack of social understanding with the phrases "I'm sorry, I was raised by wolves and fairies," and "I live in a cave." Not entirely accurate, but not entirely wrong.

In a totally unrelated thought, the Discordians should be able to appoint Templars.