Considering that some of these girls were paid so little that they had to turn to prostitution in order to get by, I don't think we can compare them to startup developers of today. At least any ones that I know.
I feel the same. I don't think that there is an intent other than education on 19th century history and events. The readers get to draw their own conclusions.
I think over time public speakers have seen a benefit in reducing ideas to memorable slogans. This way their words are understandable to everyone and not just those who can understand the complexity of the issue. Whether this is good or bad for society is certainly up for debate.
I don't think John Bright was given as an example of a demagogue so much that he was referenced in a quote used from the 19th century, the writer of which thought he was a demagogue.
Modern cat hoarding can be really, really bad, but even at its worst, I think the smell must still be better than that in the same situation in the Victorian era. We have better construction now and many more options for keeping things clean, like enzyme sprays, carpet shampooers, vacuums, and odor-busting cat litter. Back then, the scent of unaltered cat pee would have quickly overtaken the house. With the cabbage and the fish offal, I can see why nuisance officer broke out in a feverish sweat (and I'm not even 100% sure what fish offal is!).
I think you misread the "humorous, but not surprising" remark. It wasn't about credulity in believing in flea circuses, but about the well-known Victorian tendency to apply human emotions to animals. What the author found "humorous, but not surprising" was that this tendency extended to insects. Also, costumes were little bits of tissue paper. I think a lot of the interpretation of what the fleas were doing came down to the showmanship of the guy running the flea circus.
I feel the same way about the medicine of the 19th century. Just goes to show how far we've come as far as science since then. And maybe Big Pharma has stepped in to fill the void for all the vague nerve complaints? Of course, it was a difficult time back then since even the doctors (if people could afford to hire them) didn't really know that much about actual disease. For instance, no one knew to wash their hands or their medical instruments and bleeding as a cure was still really popular. Even into the 1950s, some of the medicines and practices were pretty bizarre. My parents remember a time when you could X-ray your own feet at the mall to see what your shoe size was. And then, there's a great commercial for face wash where the lady cleansed away dirt combined with nuclear material and then used a geiger counter on her face to show how clean it was. It's both funny and horrifying!
I completely agree with you. I had noticed that on a lot of tech articles written by women - especially articles where they remark on their experiences of gender bias in the workplace - the comments are particularly brutal and offensive. But I was surprised to see that those kinds of hate comments escalate to such a frightening level.