I noticed the same problem. Sympathy for contrarian stories is a known tic of Slate magazine. Maybe most concisely illustrated by their "you're doing it wrong

I noticed the same problem. Sympathy for contrarian stories is a known tic of Slate magazine. Maybe most concisely illustrated by their "you're doing it wrong" series on cooking standard dishes like pancakes, but see also http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/10/contrarianisms_end_1 I think it came from their founding editor, Michael Kinsley, who has a taste for this kind of thinking.