Born To Be Rebels: Dangerous Political Contrarians

By Terry Nettle

Political contrarians all over the world play a game of hide and seek with the authorities in every country. If they continue to grow in numbers and become a sizable opposition, they will gain an upper hand in politics and drive the countries into chaos, deadly conflicts and even civil wars.

Contrarians, dissidents and activists therefore represent a serious security threat in every country, democratic or not. If these groups are not managed properly, they can create devastating problems for the countries and their people.

What really is the root cause of the growth of all such groups? Clearly it is a manifestation of the inborn human desire to be different and to constantly feed the ego. While many of these people are indeed born to be rebels, it behooves on all countries to find ways to channel the energy of such groups into productive and collaborative human activities.

Do the contrarians ever wonder whether they are even qualified to decide on specialist issues of medical, political or social-economic nature which require deep knowledge and understanding of the complex information involved?

Do contrarians play a positive role in politics?

These are the many important issues addressed in this book.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Terry Nettle
• Release date: May 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201875282

Book preview

Chapter 1. Who Is A Contrarian?

Acontrarian is someone who thinks and does things that are at odds with conventional wisdom and practice, or with widely accepted views. Often, it is associated with a personal ego, a personal preference, and a stubborn streak to want to be different from others. Perhaps, the contrarian also has a need to appear to be smarter than other people who hold the conventional view.

In everyday life, this is often a person who has an obsessive desire to stand out from the rest and to argue for alternate views. There are indeed many such people around because it feeds a basic human egoistic need. There is also a strong herd instinct element involved when most people feel compelled to join the ranks of the contrarians when there are many such contrarians around them.

However, not all those who like to argue and take opposite or different views are contrarians. Indeed, to argue and to debate is also a common human trait and a valuable intellectual asset in most circumstances. But when it happens regularly and consistently, without proper consideration of the intrinsic merits and logic of the issues at hand, and becomes a strong desire to seek out and accept views opposite to the conventional views, it becomes the hallmark of contrarians.

And to be sure, sometimes contrarians can be right and can even profit enormously. This can happen for those in the complex and unpredictable financial markets, and those who are willing to gamble big time on very short odds in casinos. It can also be very smart to back a dark horse in a horse race or in a political contest