It has never been different. Because of human nature. We have an inclination to do what is right, and an inclination to do what is wrong. Even within one person it isn’t always clear that the same one is always dominant.
So any century you were born in, you would have faced both sociopaths getting their way over masses of people, and masses of people fighting for the sociopath without a cogent thought in their heads.
Now that is the truth, and the definition of tragedy.
I guess why past philosophers have said that the condition of the human being is tragedy itself.
There isn’t anything left to say on that note, except thank God for Christ the redeemer.