I don't think this is new, just more visible. Exactly this same culture is documented in Kidder's "Soul of a New Machine", and if you read biographies of Oppenh

I don't think this is new, just more visible. Exactly this same culture is documented in Kidder's "Soul of a New Machine", and if you read biographies of Oppenheimer, Feynmann etc the same was going on back in the 40s. Academic math is filled with stories of famous crotchedy 'X' launching a withering attack during seminars. I agree with your latter points; I think social media is making it possible to change this behavior. I.e. I view recent developments positively, not negatively.