I always was interested to be a contrarian. In school I was a conservative and the most anti-drugs person one could find. While all my peer started to drink themselves to a coma I always refused that. I am scared about herd mentality and peer-pressure. In certain instances I am still susceptible for it. I inform myself too much in mainstream media this is why I started to read more science articles. I try to reflect on what I read in the media and whether there is a possible bias involved. And I have to say humans have so many biases it is hard to be completely rational. I already came to a point where I questioned everything reality etc. I recently listened to an interview with a physics noble prize winner. I did not understand it fully. Though seemingly the research of quantum mechanics suggests that we humans have a distorted understanding of reality and time/space. I found that fascinating I considered to write a post on it though I think I lack the understanding on that topic for a nuanced thread.
David Foster Wallace was a contrarian also because he was concerned about the herd mentality. At the same time one does not want to be against something simply because it is mainstream. DFW was good in seeing the beauty of mainstream literature, platitudes and the belief in god which is very unpopular in leftwing intellectualism. I don't agree on everything but he was damn good at questioning things. And pointing out legitmate criticism in contrast to standard talking points.
So at first in this forum. I often read there were many incels in this forum. Though my personal feeling is the ratio has changed a lot since the old administrators left. I don't really perceive this forum as severely incel related. On the other hand I only read certain posts which interest me and I usually avoid such content.
On religion DFW criticized how snobbish many educated people claim there is no god with absolute certainty. Again I think physics has some interests insights that the universe is extremely complex and insanely unlikely to begin so that a creator does not seem to be completely impossible. I still don't feel good about religion. When I believed somewhat in god my suicidality was even worse to endure. I was raised somewhat christian and I internalized the guilt towards suicide. Atheism helped me to live with my suicidality. Though I think maybe I should become more agnotic. I am too uncertain for strong opinions on this topic.
I think in recovery I pointed in some threads out that life can be under certain circumstances worth living. However I avoid to use platitudes or to guilt-trip people for their suicidality. People have done this to me and it is very counterproductive. There was a thread "You can live with suicidal thoughts without committing suicide." I think this is a good example how recovery stories can help to improve. I don't force anyone to read it or to believe in it. Some of my recovery threads are rather descriptive and should not invoke thoughts like "appreciate life for all your privileges" or "suicide is evil" or people should feel ashamed for those thoughts. When I told my therapist I am suicidal since many years he asked me whether I need a support group. He searched for one and found a religious one. Well I said thanks no. I know which things would have awaited me there. Moreover I have the feeling maybe this is simplistic or stupid. People who are on the outside overly religious and insist on fundamental conservative values are often the ones who get caught in mass gay sex orgies, molesting children etc. There often seems to be a strong difference of how people want to be perceived, what they pretend and what really goes on inside their mind.
Politcially I became a lefty which is pretty standard in my age. In some instances I find that sad. One can posture oneself better as smartass if one is contrarian. Moreover the discussions with my lefty friends were more interesting when I was a conservative.
There are many topics where I try to be contrarian though I am no expert in all of these subjects. Sometimes I just want to provoke thoughts with my threads despite the fact I don't have a strong opinion on them. There are some topics which interest me: conspiracy theories especially on the internet, right-wing libertarianism which undermines our democracies, democracy and the lack of appreciation, assisted suicide (though on this forum my opinion is pretty much commonsense), the health care system in the US, (anti-) drugs (though I have become more agnostic during the past years). I am not sure how widespread that topic is in other countries. Maybe that is an interesting topic for people with a different language. But in German spreaking countries there is an extremely polarized debate how to make language inclusive for all different genders. The debates are extremely heated and people go fully insane on it. If a newspaper uses inclusive language they lose a lot of subscribers, receive a lot of hatred etc. I am not sure where I position myself on it. I think we talk way too much about it and there are too many emotions involved when talking about it. There are way more important topics but the culture war becomes worse and worse.
I think I should end it here. I think I have not hit the nail but rambling won't fix that. I think I will remember way more topics after I posted this thread where I try to be contrarian but that is it. Thanks for reading!
David Foster Wallace was a contrarian also because he was concerned about the herd mentality. At the same time one does not want to be against something simply because it is mainstream. DFW was good in seeing the beauty of mainstream literature, platitudes and the belief in god which is very unpopular in leftwing intellectualism. I don't agree on everything but he was damn good at questioning things. And pointing out legitmate criticism in contrast to standard talking points.
So at first in this forum. I often read there were many incels in this forum. Though my personal feeling is the ratio has changed a lot since the old administrators left. I don't really perceive this forum as severely incel related. On the other hand I only read certain posts which interest me and I usually avoid such content.
On religion DFW criticized how snobbish many educated people claim there is no god with absolute certainty. Again I think physics has some interests insights that the universe is extremely complex and insanely unlikely to begin so that a creator does not seem to be completely impossible. I still don't feel good about religion. When I believed somewhat in god my suicidality was even worse to endure. I was raised somewhat christian and I internalized the guilt towards suicide. Atheism helped me to live with my suicidality. Though I think maybe I should become more agnotic. I am too uncertain for strong opinions on this topic.
I think in recovery I pointed in some threads out that life can be under certain circumstances worth living. However I avoid to use platitudes or to guilt-trip people for their suicidality. People have done this to me and it is very counterproductive. There was a thread "You can live with suicidal thoughts without committing suicide." I think this is a good example how recovery stories can help to improve. I don't force anyone to read it or to believe in it. Some of my recovery threads are rather descriptive and should not invoke thoughts like "appreciate life for all your privileges" or "suicide is evil" or people should feel ashamed for those thoughts. When I told my therapist I am suicidal since many years he asked me whether I need a support group. He searched for one and found a religious one. Well I said thanks no. I know which things would have awaited me there. Moreover I have the feeling maybe this is simplistic or stupid. People who are on the outside overly religious and insist on fundamental conservative values are often the ones who get caught in mass gay sex orgies, molesting children etc. There often seems to be a strong difference of how people want to be perceived, what they pretend and what really goes on inside their mind.
Politcially I became a lefty which is pretty standard in my age. In some instances I find that sad. One can posture oneself better as smartass if one is contrarian. Moreover the discussions with my lefty friends were more interesting when I was a conservative.
There are many topics where I try to be contrarian though I am no expert in all of these subjects. Sometimes I just want to provoke thoughts with my threads despite the fact I don't have a strong opinion on them. There are some topics which interest me: conspiracy theories especially on the internet, right-wing libertarianism which undermines our democracies, democracy and the lack of appreciation, assisted suicide (though on this forum my opinion is pretty much commonsense), the health care system in the US, (anti-) drugs (though I have become more agnostic during the past years). I am not sure how widespread that topic is in other countries. Maybe that is an interesting topic for people with a different language. But in German spreaking countries there is an extremely polarized debate how to make language inclusive for all different genders. The debates are extremely heated and people go fully insane on it. If a newspaper uses inclusive language they lose a lot of subscribers, receive a lot of hatred etc. I am not sure where I position myself on it. I think we talk way too much about it and there are too many emotions involved when talking about it. There are way more important topics but the culture war becomes worse and worse.
I think I should end it here. I think I have not hit the nail but rambling won't fix that. I think I will remember way more topics after I posted this thread where I try to be contrarian but that is it. Thanks for reading!
Last edited:
