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In 1971 and 1972 the FBI recorded 2500 political bombings in the US. In 1856 a senator was beaten nearly to death with a cane by another congressman. That repr

In 1971 and 1972 the FBI recorded 2500 political bombings in the US. In 1856 a senator was beaten nearly to death with a cane by another congressman. That representative received canes in the mail from his constituents in support of his violence. These things seem inconceivable now but are just a couple of episodes in US partisanship. We are no where near as polarized as we’ve been in the past.

dragonwriter 4y ago
In 1921 in one incident (triggered by attempts to prevent a lynching of a black man, of which there were 59 that year [0]), 75-300 people were killed, 800+ injured, and 10,000 left homeless in race-motivated mob violence, with the police actively intervening on the side of the racist mob, an attack which included, per eyewitness accounts, aerial bombardment by multiple aircraft. In the same year, along with other significant acts of violence around racial issues, labor-issues related violence was so great that it involve Mingo County, WV, being under state declared martial law for months with battles between state authorities and armed miners, an invocation of the federal Insurrection Act and deployment of federal troops finally ending the fighting. [0] While higher than any subsequent year, this was also not abnormal for the years from the 1880s through 1921.
_8j50 4y ago
I disagree with this. You are mentioning extreme events that were more common in the past but my concern is that the extreme views today are more pervasive and widespread thanks to the internet. If politically morivated bombings become trendy again it might mean mangnitudes worse than the 70s
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > . You are mentioning extreme events that were more common in the past but my concern is that the extreme views today are more pervasive and widespread thanks to the internet Extreme views are not more pervasive than ever (they might be up from a minimum in like the late 1980s/early 1990s, but not to some unprecedented level.) The internet makes views divergent from those of your immediate race/class/industry/goegraphy-defined subgroup more visible, and for many of the same reasons it makes cultural subgroups less defined by those categories than in the past. > If politically morivated bombings become trendy again it might mean mangnitudes worse than the 70s The reason they were more common in the 1970s is greater extremism, not fashion. Yes, if extremism actually got worse than the 1970s, then... it would be worse than the 1970s.

dragonwriter 4y ago

In 1921 in one incident (triggered by attempts to prevent a lynching of a black man, of which there were 59 that year [0]), 75-300 people were killed, 800+ injured, and 10,000 left homeless in race-motivated mob violence, with the police actively intervening on the side of the racist mob, an attack which included, per eyewitness accounts, aerial bombardment by multiple aircraft. In the same year, along with other significant acts of violence around racial issues, labor-issues related violence was so great that it involve Mingo County, WV, being under state declared martial law for months with battles between state authorities and armed miners, an invocation of the federal Insurrection Act and deployment of federal troops finally ending the fighting. [0] While higher than any subsequent year, this was also not abnormal for the years from the 1880s through 1921.

_8j50 4y ago

I disagree with this. You are mentioning extreme events that were more common in the past but my concern is that the extreme views today are more pervasive and widespread thanks to the internet. If politically morivated bombings become trendy again it might mean mangnitudes worse than the 70s

dragonwriter 4y ago
> . You are mentioning extreme events that were more common in the past but my concern is that the extreme views today are more pervasive and widespread thanks to the internet Extreme views are not more pervasive than ever (they might be up from a minimum in like the late 1980s/early 1990s, but not to some unprecedented level.) The internet makes views divergent from those of your immediate race/class/industry/goegraphy-defined subgroup more visible, and for many of the same reasons it makes cultural subgroups less defined by those categories than in the past. > If politically morivated bombings become trendy again it might mean mangnitudes worse than the 70s The reason they were more common in the 1970s is greater extremism, not fashion. Yes, if extremism actually got worse than the 1970s, then... it would be worse than the 1970s.