The Contrarian’s Contrarian

Many say, “stop following the news and think for yourself”. But what is thinking for yourself? If thinking for yourself means accepting any narrative that goes against the “mainstream”, wouldn’t that be conforming to something else? So, “thinking for yourself” would not necessarily mean thinking for yourself as an autonomous individual but following a different crowd of people who tell you to think for yourself. In that same line of reasoning it could be seen as mainstream to not listen to the mainstream, but who decides what is the “mainstream”?

How can anyone verify any source of information to distinguish what is mainstream from what is not?

Further compounding the issue, whether something is mainstream information or news tells us little about the truth of that information or news. The crux of reasoned decision making is justification. How can you say you know anything? How can you tell fact from fiction? Some might say major media outlets have particular agendas and are “paid off” but one would still need to show this is the case. Who is to say the alternative is any better? Who is to say the random YouTube video you saw is not paid off? Who is to say the organization or individual producing the video does not have a particular agenda?

Better yet, who is to say the justification you have for differentiating mainstream information as…