Don't Like - Reflexive Accusations Of Contrarianism

One of the most stifling things you can accuse someone is of being a contrarian. When that happens, the accuser writes everything off as merely the whim of someone else who only wants to disagree. Forget the substance or merit of what the person is saying, for there is none. And this is important because I don’t believe that there are very many contrarians out there. Not just because there are almost 7,000,000,000 people on earth and it’s impossible to not agree with anyone. But because I don’t think most people take on a truly contrarian personality. Sure they may have contrarian moments or tendencies but who is truly contrary for contrary’s sake all the time? Only in our most petulant moments does someone tell us they like something for us to curtly reply, “Well, I don’t.” There are reasons people do and do not like things. To presume that someone is just being contrarian is declare your own rightness. It’s to say that your experience is the right experience based on a nebulous feeling about society. You may, of course, be right. But that’s not a given. And labeling someone a contrarian out of hand denies you the opportunity to find out. What if you are wrong? What then? You’re depriving yourself a chance to have a revelation about something. You could happily have your whole outlook on life turned upside down. Or not. But to find out, you must hear someone out.