10 years ago, I would think to myself "Man, it feels like we're headed for a civil war"; but, I didn't say anything as I wrote it off to being too focused on the present-term context. I compared the times to the 1960s, when there was a lot of unrest and division. 5 years ago, though, things seemed even worse, and I began wondering out loud if we're headed for civil war.

Now, I think we're closer than ever to a real split. Covid has exacerbated it all. People are self-sorting in terms of migrations from blue states to red states, and from cities to suburbs and rural areas.

This summer, and the elections in November, could be flashpoints of something larger and worse -- I hope we can hold it together.

As for HN toxicity -- beware items whose number of comments exceeds the votes for the article itself; it's a rough metric for how big the flames are.