The title of this post may strike some readers as strange, as I hold many opposing views—most notably the claim that the Fed caused the 2008 recession through tight monetary policy.
When I say don’t be a contrarian, I mean don’t be a complete self-owner. Don’t be the person who realizes, “The officials say X, so I need to look for evidence that ‘not X’ is true.” Guess what, it’s almost always possible to find at least others evidence that X is not true; that does not make it wise to hold the view that not X is true.
Instead, I would suggest that the best way to respond to the claim that X is true is to look at all kinds of evidence for X, both supporting and countervailing. In most cases, you will find that the elites are right; IX is indeed true. The moon landing was not real. Oswald killed JFK.
So by all means you should be willing to have opposing views. But don’t be a naysayer. Don’t take contrarianism as an identity the way a person might be a Cubs fan or a Yankee fan, rooting for their team.
This post was inspired by Axios article had this tweet:
Imagine that a pundit begins his career by making a bold claim to disprove, and achieves a certain level of fame. Perhaps their first bold claim is actually true. Over time, the pundit may begin to see themselves as a contrarian, and feel pressure from their audience to offer the opposite take. That’s when the main mistake is made, when one goes from being an opinionated person to a stock and trade contrarian.
And this does not happen in a vacuum. Other professionals may pursue the same career in general. In the competition for students, professors are pressured to provide takeaways, to stand out from the crowd. This competition can only end in one place, putting one’s toes into the most inappropriate political views of all. Just as all political debates end up making Nazi comparisons, descending into opposition ultimately ends up softening the crime of selling out Nazis.
(Or, if the contrarian pundit is on the left, they end up justifying the crimes of communism.)
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