Notes From A Contrarian

My adoptive mother was not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and that is being diplomatic, but she was right about one thing: I would argue black is white, she would tell me. I’ve always gone against the grain, and still do out of habit, but I never go public until I am absolutely certain. Yes, we are surrounded by lies, bombarded by them constantly: religion, spirit mediumship, political propaganda, and in this supposedly enlightened age by all manner of chimeras such as sexism, homophobia, and even microaggressions. But, and this is a very big but, leaving aside argumentum ad antiquitatum, if an idea, taboo, belief, shibboleth, law...has been around for a long time, there is usually a reason for it, and more often than not a good reason.

Don’t buck the status quo just because, and when you are wrong, admit it. When you have been duped, admit it, as soon as you realise it. Throughout history some incredibly intelligent people have been fooled by con-men and shakedown artists; there is no shame in admitting you have been conned, and if you don’t, you may waste the rest of your life promoting some ridiculous idea or lost cause.