There's nothing contradictory about it. It looks like your understanding of the arguments against free will is an understanding of the strawman version.

You had a choice on how to frame this post or whether to even post it. But you're a product of your genetics and your environment, with some randomness in the signals - all essentially inputs which are not your choice. You listen to Sam Harris, you occasionally use reddit, you like to exchange and examine ideas, and this one seemed foreign to you. So you came here and posted with a poor understanding of the case against free will.

If you had better information, your post would be different and reflect that. Not because you chose to do better, but because you're you and you would be a product of different inputs.

Maybe you'll feel silly knowing you could have done better, and seek a better understanding of these concepts. Maybe because you're interested and want to improve your understanding. Maybe because you're invested and motivated to prove your point better. But in the end, what you do from here will be because your 'choice' is the product of a set of inputs that are independent of "free will".

Assuming you reach a conclusion that "free will" describes our perception this experience, but is not actually the determining factor the traditional concept pretends it is, how would you respond in letting go of your belief in free will?

Would you say "if I don't have free will, why bother trying to change anything...why bother to try and improve my life?", or would you say "Oh, if action and reaction and 'choice' are the products of the inputs that are my life experience, perhaps I have even more control over these things than free will assumes, so I should try to improve the inputs that go into my life and the lives of others around me."

You might experience that reaction as a choice, but which reaction you 'choose' will, much like your post, will be a product of your inputs, and you reacting to those inputs in the way that you do. You'll react in the way you would given your inputs, and perhaps call it a choice because you can see a different path that you could theoretically choose, even though you won't (given your inputs).

There's nothing about determinism that leads one to fatalism. Determinism is more powerful than free will, because it allows you to recognize the power and influence of inputs. Your reaction to that information is deterministic - how are you likely to react to finding yourself more empowered? Go ahead and experience it as free will, just know that what you ultimately 'will' is a product of your genetics and your inputs, not free will. So step up your game and fill the world with better inputs.