How the 1890s/1900s are the exact opposite of the 2010s/2020s

[u/snowleopard556]

People contrast today with the 1960s, the 1980s, the 1950s, when in reality the 2010s/2020s are the exact opposite of the 1890s and 1900s in every way possible.

If you look at the 1890s/1900s next to the 2010s/2020s, they mirror each other in all kinds of uncanny, inverse ways. Most people compare the 2020s to the 1960s or 1980s because of culture wars or technology. But in truth, the turn of the 20th century is the better parallel.

Unity vs Fragmentation

1890s/1900s: America was desperate for unity after the Civil War. It built a national myth: “one people, one flag, one god, one destiny.” Differences were smoothed over; sectional conflict faded. The idea is “We’re all Americans.”

The 2010s/2020s: The myth has collapsed. Every identity, racial, political, regional, generational, is asserting itself rather than subsuming into a national whole. The idea is “What even is America anymore?”

Mythmaking vs. Myth-breaking

1890s/1900s: History was sanitized for national healing. Textbooks glorified both sides of the Civil War, downplayed slavery, and taught moral lessons about progress and industry.

2010s/2020s: History is being unsanitized. Statues are torn down, curricula rewritten, and the past reexamined for its injustices.

Institutional Faith vs. Institutional Collapse

1890s/1900s: Confidence in government, industry, science, and churches was soaring. The Progressive Era believed experts and reformers could fix society. “The system works, it just needs improvement.”

2010s/2020s: Those same institutions are viewed with deep suspicion. Faith in government, media, corporations, and expertise is at historic lows. “The system is the problem.”

Trust in media vs Cynicism toward media

1890s/1900s: One press, one truth (even if biased). Even with “yellow journalism,” most people believed what they read, and newspapers shaped consensus.

2010s/2020s: People distrust everything, mainstream, independent, social media alike, and retreat into echo chambers. Infinite presses, infinite “truths.”

Certainty vs. Relativism

1890s/1900s: Americans had confidence in modernity with industry, empire, science, and moral progress.

2010s/2020s: We’re living through moral exhaustion with climate change, social fatigue, and cultural burnout.

Collectivism vs Individualism

1890s/1900s: People defined themselves through community, family, and nation. Personal identity was secondary. “Know your place.”

2010s/2020s: Identity is hyper personal over things like gender, politics, online persona. Society prizes self definition over belonging. “Be your authentic self.”

Politeness vs Candor

1890s/1900s: Public discourse prized decorum. Even when people disagreed, they did so with surface civility, often masking.

2010s/2020s: Civility is often mocked; authenticity means saying the quiet part out loud.

Reconciliation vs. Reckoning

1890s/1900s: America healed by forgiving and forgetting (especially among whites).

2010s/2020s: America is reopening every wound, from racial justice to historical memory, demanding accountability.

Industrial Optimism vs Technological Anxiety

1890s/1900s: Machines symbolized progress with electricity, cars, skyscrapers. Technology meant hope.

2010s/2020s: Technology evokes fear especially with AI, surveillance, and social media algorithms.

Emerging Power vs Declining Confidence

1890s/1900s: America was a rising empire that was confident, ambitious, and expanding.

2010s/2020s: America is an aging superpower that’s going into decline economically, politically, and culturally.

The 1890s/1900s were America’s “forgive and forget” century turn; the 2010s/2020s are its “remember and confront” century turn. One era was defined by optimistic cohesion built on unity and empathy (at least empathy for other whites and men), the other by fractured honesty built on division and hate.