When stupid people acted a fool in the 1940s you got town gossips whispering about them and that was probably it. Lawbreakers would wind up in the paper, maybe, if their crimes were especially egregious. Now everyone is instantly connected with internet rectangles glued to their hands and that transcends generations to some extent, but more to the point is the fact that the similar kind of check-out-this-asshole news spreads much, much faster and can hop borders and language barriers because you can get a tweet translated instantly.