They just got better at hiding it, ironically because of Gamergate. Remember how openly smug they acted during gg? They thought labeling someone a "shitlord" and "neckbeard" was all they needed to unperson someone. Remember how activists like Big Red became laughing stocks?
When those labels became ineffective, they escalated: racist, sexist, transphobe, alt-right, nazi, fascist, etc. But the desired outcome remained the same. They want us gone. "No bad tactics, only bad targets".
They became better at obfuscating their intentions, they hide behing platitudes and slogans
Yeah, Brown was just a religious zealot, who literally believed he had heard the word of God tell him to go on a genuine, unironic Crusade and that the Southern Plantation owners were actually demons in the service of the Devil, and that by igniting a slave revolt it would bring the righteous hand of God to smite the demons. I am sure it is just a coincidence this didnt lend to excellent tactical command and resulted in his forces walking into numerous ambushes until, like I said, no Jayhawk or Redleg wanted anything to do with him and told him to do his own thing.
It was mostly me just commenting on how he is the cause celeb among a lot of Leftist as a "symbol of revolution", yet he was a religious zealot (which they would claim they hate) and failed at basically everything he did and only accomplished escalating tensions and violence to the point it made sure the Civil War could not possibly be avoided.
I dont really know about his time as a politician as he was actually not in the political arena all that long (he served one term in Kentucky before being run out by a coordinated campaign because of being an abolitionist), and spent far more of his time as an activist giving speeches. I could see some ways he was crazier than John Brown (after all, after getting jump by 6 assassins and managing to kill almost all of them, his only response was "I felt the utmost indignation"), he was actually one of the single most effective Abolitionist in the United States in terms of actually changing peoples minds. On top of getting Russian help for the Union during the Civil War (they provided some warships to help hunt Confederate blockade runners) and helping to negotiate the purchase of Alaska while he was ambassador to Russia. I thought you had seen this one before?