Contrary to Popular Belief: You Are Bothered. - The 'Contrarian' Archetype, Today's Social Media Landscape by Enyjé Sandoz
In the current age of social media, everyone is striving to be heard, seen, and recognized. As a result, it has been 'normalized' (a buzzword) for people to intentionally go against the grain through their 'unpopular opinions' and 'hot takes'. While the onset of the popularization of 'unpopular opinions' was to challenge groupthink, it has now been weaponized (ding, ding, ding! yet another buzzword) to solicit attention (and with social media creator funds, revenue) through people strongly opposing their views or noting it as an outlandish statement. There are several names for this: rage-baiting, engagement farming, again—boost revenue, or just good old-fashioned attention-seeking. People—please, do not fall for the hype. Over the years, I noticed another archetype. It is one that has existed for eons, yet seemingly slips through the cracks on social media. It is: the contrarian. As defined, "a person who opposes or rejects popular opinion, e...
