I think it's pretty obvious to anyone familiar with US history that the seeds of these "culture wars" started in the '60s with the hippie movement. While I wasn't old enough, I know several older liberals who talked about Reagan the way many younger liberals talk about Trump (and probably worse!), and older conservatives who talked about Carter similarly to how younger conservatives talk about Obama. Reagan was known as the Teflon President because none of the gaffes he made could ever stick to him and he remained quite popular throughout his rule.
The problem is, the internet, the web, and now social media has accelerated this divisiveness to a whole new point. As the GP says, it's an accelerant. Like a small cooking fire can turn nasty with the addition of gas, the acceleration of the culture wars thanks to the winner-take-all outcomes of today mean that everything is getting more heated _faster_.
EDIT: While I know it's faux pas, I am curious where/why the downvotes are coming (from) simply because this seems fairly non-controversial, and also because it started out with a few upvotes first.
The problem is, the internet, the web, and now social media has accelerated this divisiveness to a whole new point. As the GP says, it's an accelerant. Like a small cooking fire can turn nasty with the addition of gas, the acceleration of the culture wars thanks to the winner-take-all outcomes of today mean that everything is getting more heated _faster_.
EDIT: While I know it's faux pas, I am curious where/why the downvotes are coming (from) simply because this seems fairly non-controversial, and also because it started out with a few upvotes first.