[trprog]

There is nothing uniquely American about extreme aggression towards people holding differing views. Although the current state of American society isn't great it can get so so much worse. A couple of examples.

1) The Cultural Revolution (China) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution

Several hundred thousand to maybe a few million people were killed, often at the hands of angry mobs, for not being the right kind of communist, for not being communist enough or for just not being friends with the right people. A person could be accused by someone who didn't like them with zero evidence of any wrongdoing and still the victim would lose their home, all of the belongings and potentially their life. This lasted from the mid 60 until the mid 70s.

2) Something current https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Saudi_Arabia

>Religious minorities do not have the right to practice their religion. Non-Muslim propagation is banned, and conversion from Islam to another religion is punishable by death

[guildwriter]

Speaking of religion, what this entire phenomenon really reminds me of is the advent of the printing press and Martin Luther.

http://www.economist.com/node/21541719

After Martin Luther printed his Ninty-Five Theses, Europe promptly lost its collective shit across the board. My European History is a bit rusty but a cursory glance at the Wikipedia topic should give a good idea of how much chaos the ability to spread ideas quickly and widely created.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation

We're talking years and years of civil war and strife. All because people who were once separated and thought they were alone found out they were not. If we use this as a barometer, we're in for some stormy seas.