>quickly identify a contradiction or a counterargument and state it confidently.
replyHow does this make this a "contrarian position"? At least I don't understand the negative connotation. To me this makes this "contrarian" at least a bit smarter than the one parroting the popular opinion...
The smarter thing to do would be to steelman the original position and not assume that the weakest of counterarguments — stated confidently and without much further analysis — sufficiently refute it.
replyI like this notion of being contrarian in what it means to be contrarian.
replyWas not lost on me...
reply"on the contrary, it was not lost on me..."
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replyIt took a long time for me to fully learn the difference between being contrarian and being constructive.
replyTotally, so many people like to bring up a counter-argument and expect you to fully disarm it, but very few people will justify whether their argument is actually relevant or reasonable to the discussion at hand.
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