It seems like the better things get on almost every dimension, and in practically terms things really are better now than they ever were for almost everyone. It's not that things are perfect, horrible things are still going on, but even a few decades ago there were a lot more, much more horrible things going on more frequently.<p>When things are genuinely bad, people rally round and support each other to try and make things better. When people are better off, relatively marginal divisions in society get magnified to dominate discourse. Once marginal issues get blown up into loyalty tests.