Many people today think America is more polarized than ever due to social media and the proliferation of fake news on the internet. But the country was just as polarized (if not more so) in the 1770s and 1860s when there were major wars fought between fellow citizens on American soil. Those were times before television and radio, when newspapers were the only form of media. The early American era was more akin to the present, with rival sources from each side of the political spectrum giving biased news to their bases. The difference then was political conflicts were more localized. Each town had multiple competing local newspapers, so political attention was more regional, as opposed to a national bipolar culture war between two diametrically opposed tribes. The advent of decentralized mass media on the internet allowed that.