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Polarizers don't block light, they polarize it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_(waves)
Read under Applications and Examples.
They block it when they are not aligned the same way, they pass or through when aligned.
Totally agree with your new science. Polarizers don't block light, they polarize it. That's why when you shoot a high power laser with unpolarized light the filter gets hot. Obviously what is happening is little tiny monkeys glued to the surface of the optics, they catch the waves that are coming in the wrong direction and they manhandle those rays to their will so that all the light that passes is only in one direction or in the cyclical direction.
Simple. And monkeys sweat so that's why the glass gets hot. Some times if you shoot too much energy you'll make the monkeys melt the glass in sweat.
still, there are two polarities, so if you put two on top it completely blocks the light, but if you put a third, it lets one polarity through again
it makes no intuitive sense, because quantum (but i've seen it happen irl in high school)