Listen now (9 min) | It can seem like we’re a whole lot less civil than we used to be. I think this may be an illusion foisted on us by bitter election cycles and the “objects in mirror are more hysterical than they appear” effects of social media. Here’s a thing worth remembering if you think American Politics has become uncivil — right before the civil war Preston Brooks, a Representative from South Carolina, beat Senator Charles Sumner bloody on the floor of the Senate with his cane. The beating was so bad, it took Sumner three years to recover.
The Violence Hidden Behind Manners
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Listen now (9 min) | It can seem like we’re a whole lot less civil than we used to be. I think this may be an illusion foisted on us by bitter election cycles and the “objects in mirror are more hysterical than they appear” effects of social media. Here’s a thing worth remembering if you think American Politics has become uncivil — right before the civil war Preston Brooks, a Representative from South Carolina, beat Senator Charles Sumner bloody on the floor of the Senate with his cane. The beating was so bad, it took Sumner three years to recover.
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