Some prevailing orthodoxies are good... Well, one is.
Where we are now is worse than 1984. The devil turned out to be much more subtle than just setting up an oppressive police state. By getting inside the Church and mucking with the Magisterium we really have no idea what the truth is. My brain is just about fried trying to figure out NFP, and that is just one issue.
The temptation is to relax and say, "God worked a miracle, the Holy Ghost is still protecting the Magisterium!" But I just can't make myself believe it. And if the recent Popes are false, then it's possible that there are mistakes even before they appeared. Where does it stop? Why are sedes so SURE, even you, Dawn, that Pius XII was the last Pope? I used to like him but there are undeniable problems in his writings.
I would like to just relax and "trust the priests," putting it all in their hands, but they treat Pius XII like a saint, not seeing one single problem with him ( except SSPV, who reject the 1955 Holy Week changes ) not to mention some of them are apparently neo-cons, and I know all of this is wrong. So it appears that I see things the priests don't see. And the problem with that is that it's like I am destined to go the route of CM and become my own authority.
Once you aren't following someone else, you are following yourself. Because of that danger, maybe it's better to just recognize-and-resist like Attila Guimares. But then if you follow the Magisterium of Vatican II you might go to a Mass where the Eucharist isn't consecrated, so we're back to sedevacantism... Does that end our problem? Nope. Because once you talk about five anti-Popes in a row, there is really nothing inherently ridiculous about the idea of six or seven or ten anti-Popes in a row. Especially when there are glaring problems with certain pre-VII papacies, although in my belief they don't engage infallibility, they are mostly about political opinions, decisions of policy ( Leo XIII not excommunicating Cardinal Gibbons despite his open and shameless flouting of authority, for one, or Pius XI and the Cristeros ). So I am put in the position of sifting and trying to figure out when the Church first got invaded, becoming in effect, as the canard goes, my own Pope.
Sorry, just thinking out loud here. I'm a tormented man.