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Contrarian?
March 4, 2024 at 8:05 pm
Just wondered how many people here identify with the label "contrarian" - meaning a person who tends to reject or oppose popular opinion.
This tendency of mine drove my parents mad - my mother would actually say "You would argue with Jesus Christ if he were here."
I have always defended unpopular opinions and people. This works against me especially in the shallow world of social media (I recently posted a New Yorker article "The Case Against Travel" and achieved 0 likes!!!! A record even for me).
That said I don't usually argue just for argument's sake. I'm not a troll. I just try to see things differently.
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RE: Contrarian?
March 4, 2024 at 8:12 pm
I am more against the rules of an institution than the subjective thoughts of individuals.
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
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RE: Contrarian?
March 4, 2024 at 8:27 pm
I’ve been accused by a certain member here (who shall remain nameless) of being a contrarian. I rejected the label utterly, of course.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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RE: Contrarian?
March 4, 2024 at 8:44 pm
I only reject what you say because I am right, and you are wrong.
Sorry, not sorry.
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RE: Contrarian?
March 4, 2024 at 10:08 pm
(This post was last modified: March 4, 2024 at 10:10 pm by Jillybean.)
[/quote]
I speak my mind. I'm not beholden to agreement or disagreement, I simply speak my mind and let the chips fall as they may.
I recently heard an interview with the author of that anti-travel piece. Her opinions seemed a little off, to me, but I'm probably biased, having traveled a bit in my life. Living in foreign countries was the most eye-opening experience of my life.
[/quote]
Did you actually read her article? I don't necessarily agree with it all but found it to be a refreshing change from the common rhetoric around travel. I do think actually living in a foreign country is different from the kind of travel she was talking about. I have known a lot of people who liked to go to touristy destinations and spend a ton of money having fun and justify it as "mind expanding" when the real reason seems to be self indulgence and consumerism. I mean I am obviously biased as well because after my Dad left our family he loved to go on several tropical vacations each year (he loved hot places) and sent us postcards. I admired his glamorous lifestyle but only years later thought about the fact that my younger brother and I didn't have enough food to eat at that time, or decent clothing for school. He also didn't pay for us to attend college, even though he himself had a degree and his parents paid for his schooling. So I guess lounging on all those beaches in Bermuda and the Bahamas wasn't "eye opening" for him.
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RE: Contrarian?
March 4, 2024 at 10:35 pm
I read that article some time ago. Travel per se is not some mind-opening experience. Where we go and what we do matters in my estimation. Even living abroad is no guarantee of said experience. I see people here who are trying their damnedest to recreate their American or Canadian life here, with the same values and ignorance they brought with them.
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RE: Contrarian?
March 4, 2024 at 10:55 pm
Some what contrary (aren't all skeptics?), also non compliant at times. Even when accepting/complying I'll often take tangents.
I don't have an anger problem, I have an idiot problem.
