I strongly doubt it. Mainly because many of the things we recognize and revile in today’s political discourse had a thriving existence around the turn of the century: Yellow Journalism, political machines, Anarchists around every corner… And it’s hard to argue that, say, the 70′s were a more moderated time.
It is possible that specific metaphorical frameworks and memes are more recent and promoted through a greater volume of media than back then, but there is a far greater volume of media in general.
Yeah. I’m no expert, but the impression I get is that it’s a lot easier now to find political commentary that makes at least some attempt to acknowledge the existence of multiple factions than it was fifty years ago.
I assume by “turn of the century” you mean the early 1900s?
I strongly doubt it. Mainly because many of the things we recognize and revile in today’s political discourse had a thriving existence around the turn of the century: Yellow Journalism, political machines, Anarchists around every corner… And it’s hard to argue that, say, the 70′s were a more moderated time.
It is possible that specific metaphorical frameworks and memes are more recent and promoted through a greater volume of media than back then, but there is a far greater volume of media in general.
Yeah. I’m no expert, but the impression I get is that it’s a lot easier now to find political commentary that makes at least some attempt to acknowledge the existence of multiple factions than it was fifty years ago.
I assume by “turn of the century” you mean the early 1900s?
Yeah… Turn of the Century is getting to be an ambiguous phrase now. But I do mean 1900s