Contrarian >From Wikipedia A contrarian is a person who takes up a contrary position, especially a position that is opposed to that of the majority, regardless of how unpopular it may be. Contrarian styles of argument and disagreement have historically been associated with _radicalism_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radicalism_(historical)) and _dissent_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissent) .
Contrarian tropes in journalism Contrarian journalism is characterised by articles and books making _counter-intuitive_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-intuitive) claims, or attacking what is said to be the conventional wisdom (a phrase attributed to _John Kenneth Galbraith_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith) ) on a given topic. A typical contrarian _trope_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trope_(literature)) takes the form "everything you know about topic X is wrong". A critical article by _Alex Pareene_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Pareene) in _New York Magazine_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Magazine) listed a number of examples, including: * Amateurs are more knowledgeable than experts (attributed to _James Surowiecki_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Surowiecki) , _The Wisdom of Crowds_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wisdom_of_Crowds) ) * Boys are the biggest victims of sex discrimination (attributed to _Christina Hoff Sommers_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Hoff_Sommers) , _The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Against_Boys) ) _Slate magazine_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_magazine) has collected a set of parodic proposed contrarian titles appearing on _Twitter_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter) . Writer _Juliet Lapidos_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Juliet_Lapidos&action=edit&redlink=1) observed, "Maybe it's contrarian for us to say so, but some of these are quite brilliant." * The _New York Yankees_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Yankees) deserve to be loved, but not for the reasons you think. * _Wings_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_(band)) : Better than the _Beatles_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatles) , or just different? * What's the _giraffe_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe) 's most distinctive feature? Hint: It's not the neck. Supporters and critics The magazine _The Contrarian Media_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Contrarian_Media) describes itself as "The Toast of Delinquent Intellectuals Everywhere". _Paul Krugman_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Krugman) has criticised "contrarianism without consequences", in relation to the debate over _global warming_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming) , and in particular, the controversy over the book _Superfreakonomics_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfreakonomics) , saying "The refusal of the Superfreakonomists to take responsibility for their failed attempt to be cleverly contrarian on climate change is a sad spectacle to watch ... having paraded their daring contrarianism, the freakonomists are trying to wiggle out of the consequences when it turns out that they were wrong." _The Economist_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Economist) has suggested that the critical response to Superfreakonomics may represent the end of contrarianism as a popular style of journalism, quoting the _Crooked Timber_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crooked_Timber) blog description of contrarianism as "a cheap way of allowing ideological hacks to think of themselves as fearless, independent thinkers, while never challenging (in fact reinforcing) the status quo.”" Contrarianism in science In _science_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science) , the term "contrarian" is often applied to those who reject a general _scientific consensus_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_consensus) on some particular issue, as well as to scientists who pursue research strategies which are rejected by most researchers in the field. Contrarians are particularly prominent in cases where scientific evidence bears on political, social or cultural controversies such as disputes over policy responses to _climate change_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change) , or _creationism_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism) versus _evolution_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution) . Writers on scientific topics commonly described as "contrarian" include _David Berlinski_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Berlinski) , a critic of mainstream views on evolution, and _Richard Lindzen_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lindzen) , a critic of the _scientific consensus on climate change_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_consensus_on_climate_change) . _Bjørn Lomborg_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjørn_Lomborg) , who claims to accept the scientific consensus on climate change, but argues against action to mitigate it, has been called "the poster boy of the contrarian trend". Scientific contrarianism is frequently referred to, favorably, as _skepticism_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skepticism) and, _pejoratively_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pejoratively) as _denialism_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denialism) . An example of the latter usage is _climate change denialism_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_denialism) . Sports Contrarian A Sports Contrarian is someone who doesn't root for the home teams in the state they reside in. Instead, a Sports Contrarian fandoms teams in other states. Ex. A New York citizen who usually roots against some and/or maybe all the New York teams and fandoms NY's conference/division rivals. Reasons 1. Dislikes their own home team's tradition and favors the tradition of another team. 2. Their home team is playing mediocre and is unlikely to make the postseason. The away team is much more successful at making the playoffs. 3. Favors the conference/divisional rivals' players over the home team's roster. Sports Contrarians are a minority group because the majority roots for the state's home teams that the individuals grew up in. Contrarian investing A _contrarian investing_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrarian_investing) style is one that is based on identifying, and speculating against, movements in stock prices that reflect changes in the sentiments of the majority of investors -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
