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Can you be a contrarian to your own views?

I have two cars, but I actually hate cars.

I chose to have a house in the mountains, but I hate snow.

I work out hard and have abs that I show off, but people who show off their abs annoy me.

I'm a writer and make income doing it in addition to my retirement pension, but writers annoy me and I never tell my friends that I'm a writer.

I also paint and have had my stuff in some galleries, but artists annoy me and I never tell any of my friends that I paint.

I've chosen all those things. Not by necessity, but just choice. Can you be a contrarian to your own views or does that definition have to involve opposing someone else's views just to troll?

45 comments
  • A contrarian, at least in the general, interpersonal social context, is someone who simply defaults toward taking the opposite viewpoint of whatever they believe is the most popular or most widely accepted.

    Oh you like blue?

    Well I like red!

    Oh you like chocolate?

    Well I like vanilla!

    It can also mean that you don't always do this as a kneejerk reaction or instinct regardless of the situation or topic or idea, but that have a single, or number of views which go against the broad consensus of some kind of academic or profeasional field.

    You are not describing contrarianism.

    You are describing hypocrisy and duplicity.

    You have sets of standards or preferences which you apply to everyone other than yourself, you have preformed negative judgements (stereotypes) about people who fall into the same categories you do, you own possessions which you state you own entirely by choice and not out of necessity, yet you despise these possesions.

    Hypocrisy.

    You hide your own activites from others so that others cannot easily call you out as a hypocrite.

    Duplicity.

    If you are trolling anyone, you are trolling yourself.

    EDIT: Possibly a more charitable interpretation for at least some of this is that you are very anti-social and simply don't enjoy talking to people, and that could stem from trauma. Nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be left alone and not interact with people.

    But if you truly do not actually need two cars, you truly could just move somewhere it doesn't snow so often, I don't see why you don't just do that, move somewhere else, sell either or both of your cars.

    • Interesting viewpoints. Thanks. Actually I'm not anti-social. I have a full social life. I lean toward duplicity because I still can't get on board with the hypocrisy term since it's such a loaded word.

      And as for the cars, no I def do not need two cars. And my house is paid for, and I have lived here for a long time. I'm hoping global warming starts making warmer winters here!

      But to your points, yes, I can sell those and my house. But that was the point fo my post. I choose not to do those things then get annoyed about it. I was wonder if anyone else was the same way. Um, looks like I may be in rare company tho! lol

      Thank you for your input. Super interesting!

45 comments