Playing Devil's Advocate Is Good Actually

The devil needs advocates!

Spend any time on the internet, and you’ll see a bunch of images like this one, sneering at those who play devil’s advocate:

(I’m always amused by the notion that rooms have a limited supply of Oxygen, that people who talk a lot take up).

Or perhaps you’ll see this even more bizarre one:

Lots of people on the internet seem to agree that there’s a common genre of person: a white guy (the memes make sure to specify his sex and skin color) who goes around playing devil’s advocate, arguing that minorities and women shouldn’t have rights. They also all agree that this guy sucks so much that even the devil doesn’t like him. But is this person as real and ubiquitous as is claimed?