contrarian skeptic
11 21 sparked by bigthink techno-optimism<div>
</div><div>note that deniers have often/always cloaked their BS in brave david and goliath speaking truth to power, hence mod galileo cosplay</div><div>and/or hard headed rationalism unswayed by the deluded mob
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</div><div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><i>Slate</i> features regular and semi-regular columns such as Explainer, Moneybox, Spectator, Transport, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Prudence(advice_column)" title="Dear Prudence (advice column)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Dear Prudence</a>. Many of the articles are short (under 2,000 words) and argument-driven. Around 2010, the magazine also began running long-form journalism. Many of the longer stories are an outgrowth of the "Fresca Fellowships", so-called because former editor Plotz liked the soft drink <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresca" title="Fresca" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Fresca</a>. "The idea is that every writer and editor on staff has to spend a month or six weeks a year not doing their regular job, but instead working on a long, ambitious project of some sort," Plotz said in an interview.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate(magazine)#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Reputation_for_counterintuitive_arguments.28.22Slate_pitches.22.29">Reputation for counterintuitive arguments ("Slate pitches")</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span></span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; line-height: 17.92px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Since at least 2006,</span><sup id="cite_ref-:1_10-1" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate(magazine)#cite_note-:1-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[10]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><i style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Slate</i><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> has been known for publishing </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrarian" title="Contrarian" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">contrarian</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> pieces arguing against commonly held views about a subject, giving rise to the #slatepitches Twitter </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashtag" title="Hashtag" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">hashtag</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> in 2009.</span><sup id="cite_ref-:2_11-1" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate(magazine)#cite_note-:2-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[11]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> The </span><i style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Journalism_Review" title="Columbia Journalism Review" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Columbia Journalism Review</a></i><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> has defined Slate </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_Pitch" title="Sales Pitch" class="mw-redirect" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">pitches</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> as "an idea that sounds wrong or counterintuitive proposed as though it were the tightest logic ever" and explained their success as follows: "Readers want to click on Slate Pitches because they want to know what a writer could possibly say that would support their logic".</span><sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate(magazine)#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[19]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> In 2014, </span><i style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Slate</i><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> 's editor-in-chief Julia Turner acknowledged that a reputation for counterintuitive arguments forms part of Slate's "distinctive" brand, but argued that the hashtag misrepresents the site's journalism: </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"We are not looking to argue that up is down and black is white for the sake of being contrarian against all logic or intellectual rigor. But journalism is more interesting when it surprises you either with the conclusions that it reaches or the ways that it reaches them.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"</span><sup id="cite_ref-:0_7-2" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate(magazine)#cite_note-:0-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; font-size: small; line-height: 17.92px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Notable_contributors_and_their_departments">Notable contributors and their departments</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span></span></font></h2><div class="div-col columns column-width" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 0.3em; line-height: 17.92px; column-width: 23em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><ul data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Applebaum" title="Anne Applebaum" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Anne Applebaum</a> (Foreigners)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dickerson(journalist)" title="John Dickerson (journalist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">John Dickerson</a> (Politics)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Doonan" title="Simon Doonan" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Simon Doonan</a> (Fashion)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Fatsis" title="Stefan Fatsis" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Stefan Fatsis</a> (Hang Up and Listen)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Kaplan(journalist)" title="Fred Kaplan (journalist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Fred Kaplan</a> (War Stories)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlia_Lithwick" title="Dahlia Lithwick" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Dahlia Lithwick</a> (Jurisprudence)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farhad_Manjoo" title="Farhad Manjoo" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Farhad Manjoo</a> (Technology)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moran(journalist)" title="Michael Moran (journalist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Michael Moran</a> (Reckoning / Foreign Policy)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Noah" title="Timothy Noah" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Timothy Noah</a> (The Customer)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meghan_O%27Rourke" title="Meghan O'Rourke" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Meghan O'Rourke</a> (The Highbrow / Grieving)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Pesca" title="Mike Pesca" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Mike Pesca</a> (The Gist)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pinsky" title="Robert Pinsky" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Robert Pinsky</a> (Poetry editor)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Plait" title="Phil Plait" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Phil Plait</a> (Bad Astronomy / Science)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Rosenbaum" title="Ron Rosenbaum" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Ron Rosenbaum</a> (Spectator)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Saletan" title="William Saletan" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">William Saletan</a> (Human Nature)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Shafer" title="Jack Shafer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Jack Shafer</a> (Press Box)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliot_Spitzer" title="Eliot Spitzer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Eliot Spitzer</a> (The Best Policy)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Steinberger" title="Michael Steinberger" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Mike Steinberger</a> (Drink)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Stevens(critic)" title="Dana Stevens (critic)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Dana Stevens</a> (Surfergirl through 2005/Movies)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Stevenson" title="Seth Stevenson" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Seth Stevenson</a> (Ad Report Card / Well-Traveled)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Turner(journalist)" title="Julia Turner (journalist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Julia Turner</a> (Editor in chief)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Vanderbilt" title="Tom Vanderbilt" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Tom Vanderbilt</a> (Transport)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Weisberg" title="Jacob Weisberg" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Jacob Weisberg</a> (The Big Idea)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wu" title="Tim Wu" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Tim Wu</a> (Technology/Jurisprudence)</font></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em; break-inside: avoid;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Yoffe" title="Emily Yoffe" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Emily Yoffe</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Prudence_(advice_column)" title="Dear Prudence (advice column)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">Dear Prudence</a>/Human Guinea-pig)</font></li></ul></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Other_recurring_features">Other recurring features</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[...helvarg</span></span></font></h2><div class="div-col columns column-width" style="font-size: small; margin-top: 0.3em; line-height: 17.92px; column-width: 20em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><ul data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data" /></div></div></div>