The title of this post may seem odd to some readers, since I hold several opposing views, particularly the argument that the Federal Reserve caused the 2008 recession with its tight monetary policy.
When I say don’t be a contrarian, I mean don’t be someone whose whole identity is contrarian. Don’t be the person who realizes, “The elites say X, so I need to look for evidence that ‘X’ isn’t.” Hell, in most cases, it’s possible to find at least some evidence that X is true. Some Evidence that X is not true. This does not make it wise to hold the view that X is not true.
Rather, I suggest that the best way to respond to a claim that X is true is to look for all evidence (both for and against) of X. Most of the time, you’ll find that the elites are right: X is indeed true. The moon landings weren’t faked. Oswald killed JFK.
So by all means, have contrarian opinions, but don’t be contrarian, don’t adopt contrarianism as an identity any more than you would if you were a Cubs or Yankees fan and rooted for your team.
This post is Axios article It included the following tweet:
Imagine a pundit begins his career with a bold contrarian claim and achieves some fame. It may be that the initial bold claim actually turns out to be true. Over time, the pundit may begin to see himself as a contrarian and feel pressured by his audience to offer more and more contrarian views. At that point, a key mistake is made as he goes from being someone with a particular contrarian view to someone who peddles contrarianism.
And this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Other pundits may be on a similar career path. In the race for readers, pundits are pressured to offer increasingly radical views to stand out from the crowd. This race can only end in one place: venturing into the most taboo of political opinions. Just as every political debate ends with a comparison to the Nazis, the slide into contrarianism ultimately leads to a flippant promotion of Nazi crimes.
(Or, if the critic who disagrees is a leftist, he ends up justifying the crimes of the communists.)
