People are angry at me because I contradict them?
Now that I've gotten this criticism from two different sources, I can't help but think there's got to be something to it.
Namely, I apparently annoy people by being too contradictory, by correcting them, or by arguing too much.
Example conversation:
Them: "So, like, you'll be able to tell if people are stupid if they think that [finding bacterial life of non-earth origin] doesn't matter, because it's just bacteria and not little green men or anything."
Me: "Well, they might only be stupid about astronomy."
At which point the person I was talking to got angry at me because I "always play the devil's advocate". (Note they have gotten angry with me about this before, so it wasn't just this particular conversation that irked them but a record of similar actions on my part.)
I'm trying to figure out just what I'm doing and how in the world I'm supposed to have a conversation without doing it. It really doesn't help that most of the people I interact with are pretty nerdy and will heavily resist being told they are wrong about anything, ever. I personally don't mind it because if I'm wrong about something I want to learn it the right way, and will generally go home and research it if informed of my mistake.
But apparently this is some kind of social taboo I'm not aware of. I can't even explain it very well, but maybe somebody will know what I'm talking about.
What's with this? How can I fix it?
Namely, I apparently annoy people by being too contradictory, by correcting them, or by arguing too much.
Example conversation:
Them: "So, like, you'll be able to tell if people are stupid if they think that [finding bacterial life of non-earth origin] doesn't matter, because it's just bacteria and not little green men or anything."
Me: "Well, they might only be stupid about astronomy."
At which point the person I was talking to got angry at me because I "always play the devil's advocate". (Note they have gotten angry with me about this before, so it wasn't just this particular conversation that irked them but a record of similar actions on my part.)
I'm trying to figure out just what I'm doing and how in the world I'm supposed to have a conversation without doing it. It really doesn't help that most of the people I interact with are pretty nerdy and will heavily resist being told they are wrong about anything, ever. I personally don't mind it because if I'm wrong about something I want to learn it the right way, and will generally go home and research it if informed of my mistake.
But apparently this is some kind of social taboo I'm not aware of. I can't even explain it very well, but maybe somebody will know what I'm talking about.
What's with this? How can I fix it?