Things are rarely so linear and clear-cut, but for the sake of gaining or keeping some perspective beyond the extremes, I made this graph. I hope it’s self-explanatory enough and prompts you to notice even more ‘cause, jeee, is there a mess of stuff going on between and behind all of it? But I’ll still try to describe what it’s meant to mean. And leave the rest to you!
First and foremost, I’ll highlight: What’s TYPICAL and MODERATE is not what you should be too concerned about, whether that’s your ideal or not. It’s what’s ******* DEMENTED that poses a real danger. The NORMALCY CHASER/ENFORCER can also be annoying as **** and a huge part of what ruins everything, so always watch out for it too. The Catholic Church? Well, essentially, when truly standing for the values and principles of Christ, it tends to be somewhere there - showing compassion regardless of agreement or even understanding. But beware of The False Prophet who will cherry-pick what’s convenient and what suits it to lead you astray and into unholy grounds.
• Moderate Progressives. They’re usually allies, closeted or not, to the more flamboyant. They don’t need to be as expressive and can pass as conservative with relative ease, but they believe in freedom of expression and can view others as too narrow and close-minded.
• Moderate Conservatives. They may disapprove of your way of life, be repulsed even or just shake their head at 'the youth', but can still adopt an attitude of “whatever floats your boat”. And mind their own business.
• Typical Progressives. These are the more outspoken and visible. With crazy hair and crazy clothes, on-your-face queer and loud & proud. Or just very active in their activism (know and talk their politics inside out) and purposely push boundaries.
• Typical Conservatives. They prefer things simple and predictable. What do you mean you went off script? “Get back here and be and do like the rest of us! You’re being strange.” However, they can range from “ignore and keep going” to “we’ll bully it out of you or ostracize you”. Still, that’s what you'd expect from “normalcy” and it's nothing new.
• The Catholic Church. When they’re not wolves in sheep’s clothing and do their bible study well, they can be some of the kindest people you’ll ever meet. Even if, fundamentally, they still believe in holding certain things in strict structure.
So far all this is tolerable enough. At least for periods of time, depending on where you are. The following, not so much...
• The False Prophet. Literally the type of people who have been giving The Catholic Church such a horrible reputation. They’re usually awful narcissists looking for excuses to justify or disguise their awful (or downright psychopathic) behavior. They have a place in hell but often pretend they’re among the saintliest.
• Normalcy Chaser/Enforcer. All they care about is fitting in with what is the currently acceptable thing to be and do. They chase it and then enforce it. Taking sentiments such as “I’d like to express who I truly am” to mean that you must be as “PC” as possible or else you’re not doing it properly and ought to be canceled, witch-hunted even. These are the people that belong with the normies that verge on demented, but find themselves elsewhere when the norms change. (I blame them for a lot.)
• ******* Demented "Progressives". You know people claiming that wearing deodorant is oppressive and that women should be allowed to bleed out on the street when they menstruate? Also the people who believe it’s totally okay for a child to make serious alterations to their body before they even get a clue about themselves or life in general? The ones trying to normalize pedophilia? I put them here. I don’t associate with them at all.
• ******* Demented "Conservatives". This is where you get Nazis and The Patriarchy in its most perverted form. Echo chambers? THEY ADORE THAT. Forget education, ban books. “My word is law” and, basically, reality is whatever they deem it to be. You thought they were people of ~FACTS~? Think again. Confirmation bias is how they roll. Anything else can cause them cognitive dissonance that they’re too scared to face and sort through. Let alone admit. Needless to say, a danger to any civilized society.
Bear with my use of terms because, as many of us know, wording is tricky and words can signify different things. But I hope you get the gist of it and can see where to aim and what to keep at bay.
