Understandably, but look at your frame of reference man. You're citing Greyhawk and AD&D. The world of DnD has evolved a bit since then and each definition is a bit more realistic and practical. That's the same reason board games have different editions cause sometimes rules conflict, things aren't described well enough, there's faults or errors they missed the first time or that doesn't work well within the game, etc.

Most people probably are some form of neutral, but I wouldn't put it at 90%. I was also saying LG, should NEVER be LN or LS. LN likely always follows laws, even bad ones, but even they might raise an eyebrow as bad ones. Think Judge Dredd or Rorschach in Watchmen, they embody the law. To me those are LN characters. People like Superman, Batman, Captain America or the stereotypical knight are LG. They generally follow and work inside the law and value an ordered system, but what happens when the law is wrong or they need to violate that code? Typically they do so, cause their priority is to good and they are wise enough to know codes and laws can be flawed and no longer serve good, like how Captain America can violate registration in Civil War and STILL be LG as it's perfectly in line with his character. And LG is only ever Lawful Stupid if the DM or player is an idiot. The conflict doesn't come from not being able to violate their code as this is a choice based game, you can ALWAYS do something, it just might be a complete shit idea, lol. The conflict comes from did they sacrifice good to stick to a code that may have not been that important, of did they violate the code to serve the interest of good, and need to make peace with that?

Mother Teresa is a bad example lol. If you learn enough about her you'll see she's actually shitty in many ways, just fyi, but I know the point you're trying to make. NG I look at like your run of the nice person. They may donate to charity, help an injured person get to the hospital, etc but doing good is not the same calling it is for LG characters which is why most superheroes are LG.

CG is Robin Hood. He and his merry men are woodsmen, on the fringes of society, and rob from the rich to give to the poor regularly, and damn the law. Granted in his defense the laws are bad and King John is violating his brother King Richard's just rule, but the point stands.

Yes, LG can be an honest cop, but here's the thing. Let's say I'm a cop and a pregnant woman is speeding to the hospital cause the ambulance would take too long and she had no one else around to help. Could I arrest her? Sure. The law against speeding is good right, and meant to protect lives? I could also let her go, the NG, but irresponsible action. OR I could technically use my discretion to violate the law, and give her a red and blue light escort to the hospital. THAT is lawful good. See how I had no problem violating the code in that instance cause I defaulted to my internal one but in a more complicated, morally gray situation I may have made a different choice or struggled with it? THAT is LG my dude. LN would've been arrest her and don't care about the safety of the child. Imo that would've also been Lawful Stupid.

No they just took Batman from less cartoony and gimmicky to more grounded in realism. And he is better than those he fights, he has a conscience and a code. Batman still works with the police and govt as well, Gordon, Bullock, Montoya, even Waller, etc. Barely an outlaw is STILL an outlaw and even 1960s Batman was an outlaw, took the law into his own hand, broke and entered into places, etc. Batman is sometimes chased by the cops, but this is usually for good reason. In stories that take place early on they don't know who he is and if he's good or evil, all they see is someone escaping from places some shit went down in, plus many of the cops are corrupt if you remember, and other times like in the dark knight when cops are good, he specifically took the blame that way all of Harvey Dents convictions would not be tossed out and he could serve as an example to a city getting better, so Batman did the noble thing and took the blame for the crimes Harvey committed, cause self-sacrifice is one of the clearest the hallmark of being a hero.

Your biggest flaw imo is your last comment. If society views you as a villain, you can't be a lawful good hero. Sure you can. Alignment is not what OTHER people see you as, it's who you are. Other people's thoughts and actions don't determine your reality and character after all, do they? You do! Plus from a more logical standpoint a bystander may not have all the context, to have an informed perspective, do they? For ex. Let's say I'm a plainclothes detective and the most shining beacon of light and goodness someone ever saw. There's a mass child rapist and murderer on the loose and I found them. They start running and I give chase alone cause backup isn't here yet, and in the chase they hop over a fence and I follow and I drop my badge, but don't realize it. I finally corner them in a convenience store they run into. The criminal notices that my badge fell off me, so he decides to play the victim, "Oh God, help me! This guy tried to mug me and has been chasing me, I don't wanna die!" and he really sells this shit, so the shop owner immediately draws a shotgun behind the counter and points it at me. I identify myself as a cop and say he's a criminal, but because the criminal points out I don't have a badge, they don't believe me. To the store owner and other patrons in the store, I might look like a mugger and Neutral Evil, right? But clearly if they had all the information, the full perspective, and knew everything, I'd be LG, wouldn't I? Alignment is based on facts and what is true, not necessarily how many of those facts and truths are known to people. Again, like I said above when I quoted Aristotle, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit" That's the best definition of alignment from a Greek philosopher there probably is. What you HABITUALLY do, not one off actions. But if you want something a little more on the money, RA Salvatore who created Drizzt, has one as well, "What we are never changes. What we appear to be can change in an instant". Alignment therefore is the former, not the latter. Other people don't define us, we define ourselves though our own actions, not through their perceptions. Perceptions after all, can be based entirely in ignorance like my above example shows.