We can't really know how the current tone of discourse compares to those in times past because the technology is so very different. An example: Most everyone who was around for the Obama-McCain election heard Obama called "Communist/Socialist", McCain was ripped on for being old and grumpy (and, yes, I even called him a sell-out). I believe it was during Abraham Lincoln's run for the presidency that someone called him an "ugly ape" among other nasty names. But no one heard those types of slurs on a day-to-day basis from Rush Limbaugh or Jon Stewart at that time. Nobody was tweeting how stupid Lincoln's opponent was. Would they have? Possibly. The fact that some of this vitriole survives in documents from the time means that there was probably a lot of name-calling.
It's just like with violence and calamity. We see and hear so much more of it today than ever before.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-01-14 12:26 am (UTC)It's just like with violence and calamity. We see and hear so much more of it today than ever before.