The hardline conservative argument has always had it that the various actions of civil liberties causes such as the LGBT marches or BlackLivesMatter demonstrations are acts of provocation. As they argue, they are ultimately self-defeating by eliciting only hostility from the society-at-large.

The point they seem to be missing here though is that at their beginnings, civil motions and the decades-long grievances and struggles that underlie them are generally not understood well enough by the bulk of society. And this lack of insight makes it easier for politics to misinform the majority for short-term political benefit.

But fortunately in many cases, culture and politics have eventually come around to embrace several of such civil liberty causes. But those who have to make the early steps in a not yet well-understood motion have to necessarily start out on the fringes. And for that, they much too often get dismissed as straight-out provocateurs and as such perceived as threats to “traditional values” and the “fabric of society.”

So unless your preferred type of society is one that involves hunter-gatherers with such lovely costumes as rape, honor killings, cannibalism and the practice of human sacrifice, you must have come to embrace at least one such “deviant,” “unpatriotic,” “divisive,” “quixotic” provocateur somewhere in the course of history.

With all that in mind, I can say that my dearest “deviant,” “unpatriotic,” “divisive,” “quixotic” provocateurs include Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Malala, and the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

Dear Conservatives, who’s your favorite?

Let me guess.

Is it Jesus?