It's certainly possible to generate traffic by being intentionally controversial if that's your style -- the practice is known as linkbaiting. As a general rule the most popular articles on my site aren't particularly controversial -- they're more practical how-to oriented. The all-time #1 article was
How to Become an Early Riser. Other popular ones have been the
Self-Discipline series and
30 Days to Success. They didn't evoke major controversy, but they did get tons of links (and still do). It's odd that LifeHacker picked up
10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job yesterday, since I posted it four months ago.
The LoA articles I've written don't tend to get a lot of links or generate much advertising income compared to other articles (none have been Digg'd or made it to the popular list on del.icio.us to my knowledge), but this is a topic I'm fascinated with and definitely want to explore further.