the thing about being a contrarian (which I don't believe I am, but when I say so my friends smile knowingly and shake their heads and there's no getting out of that spike pit trap once you're in it) is that you must strive to be as contrarian (positive) as you are contrarian (negative). when you hate something instantly, you have to haul your own instincts up to the witness stand and badger them. where does your antipathy come from? is your evidence material or circumstantial? are you a reliable witness? when a friend introduces you to a friend and you see in the first split second that you were arch-nemeses in a past life, you must steel yourself and compliment their horrible shirt and listen to at least two of their jokes before you go home and pin their picture to the dartboard. this is how you work around your own prejudices, but more importantly it is also how you gather evidence that you were right in the first place and you're an astute observer of the human condition and not a contrarian just because your friends' stupid accusation is rhetorically impossible to refute. if anything they're the ones,
