The Contrarian

I have always been something of a contrarian. I don’t say this to brag, since I don’t regard it as necessarily a good thing. But I think it’s safe to say that people who know me well would agree that I frequently take certain positions partly out of a desire to disagree with those around me. Unanimity distresses me I guess. Perhaps it’s because I tend to think that intelligent people of good faith can come to opposite conclusions on contested issues. I’ve been reminded of this lately as the election season has heated up; nearly everyone I socialize with is vehemently anti-Bush. At a recent party, for instance, all in attendance expressed shock and disbelief that an absent acquaintance was an avowed Republican who plans to vote for Bush. The unthinking assumption among so many of my peers that no decent person could possibly support the President almost makes me want to vote for him. Almost.

That being said, contrariness is by no means an unalloyed virtue. While it’s certainly admirable to stand up for an unpopular view at times, contrariness can sometimes become an end in itself. You end up disagreeing for the sake of disagreeing, rather than sticking to a principled position. Sometimes it’s hard for the contrarian to take “yes” for an answer. He can become a reverse-conformist – someone whose opinions are determined by those around him because they dictate that he will take the position contrary to whatever the local consensus is. When surrounded by liberals he becomes a conservative, when surrounded by atheists he is a believer. He risks making his identity parasitic on others.

Still, there are certain pleasures inherent to the practice of contrariety. Here is an article from a few years ago by James Nuechterlein on his experience as a contrarian.