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Noah Smith @Noahpinion
, 12 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
Yes, we have been more divided than we are now. Within living memory.
Labor disputes used to kill hundreds of people! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_…
In 1932 Douglas MacArthur called in tanks on protesting veterans, injuring over a thousand people!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army
In 1967 there were 159 race riots in cities across America!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long,_hot…
In 1921, rioters used airplanes to bomb black businesses in Tulsa, Oklahoma! Hundreds were killed in the riot!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_rac…
In the 70s, two different people tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford!
sfgate.com/news/article/F…
In 1919, anarchists sent 36 mail bombs to prominent U.S. business and government leaders!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1919_Unit…
Some business leaders plotted a coup to overthrow Franklin D. Roosevelt and replace him with a fascist government! timeline.com/business-plot-…
The 70s had so much domestic terrorism that it became routine! cnn.com/2015/07/28/opi…
In the 1900s and 1910s there were massive numbers of lynchings!
In America, division and violence have been the historical norm.

Right now, for all the online vitriol, the worst we've seen in terms of actual violence were Charlottesville and the Alexandria shooter.
Some people say social media has made us more divided. Maybe it has. Or maybe it's just given us a non-destructive way to voice our grievances, hatreds, and crazy ideas, without burning buildings or setting off bombs.

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