Could we find other adjectives to label each other with?

In my defense I had never in my life thought of myself or other Canadians are either Left or Right or Conservative or Liberal or Far Left and Far Right until I began going to Mass, talking to Catholics and reading Catholic media and seeing these terms used constantly.

Several people in Peterborough ~ key people like priests, Diocese staff, parish secretaries ~ over the course of the five years I lived there told me I was “so progressive”. I believe it was Deirdre Thomas who said I was “too progressive”.

In Facebook groups, I saw Catholics talking about libtards or libpedos.

I don’t know why they held this belief, or how they came to think so. My repeated attempts to simply have a conversation, and probe their beliefs about me were met with silence, or hard stares.

The most useful framework I’ve found to make sense of the obsession of Catholics over categorizing other Catholics is Jonathon Haidt’s moral matrix foundation. Conservatives have balanced views in all six moral taste receptors: loyalty vs betrayal, sanctity vs degradation, authority vs subversion, liberty vs oppression) whereas progressives (over?) emphasize fairness vs injustice and care vs harm.