Can't we all just get along?

If you follow the posts on this site, there seems to be more and more sniping between craft brewers especially as it pertains to names of beers. I am aware that this may be a very small percentage of brewers but like anything else, one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch and the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

My point is that I would be interested to know whether the first wave of European brewers helped each other get their respective breweries started in the way many craft brewers are helping out new brewers and if so, when did the helping slow down or stop and when did the competitiveness start. Since history repeats itself, and this question applies to breweries past, present and future, it is my belief that whatever happened to and among the first and subsequent lager brewers will happen again to and among the first and subsequent craft brewers. In other words, intense competitiveness is just getting started and will get worse.

As far as the continuing growth of the craft beer segment, history can also tell us something, but in this case, not as much since there are many other forces that help determine that growth, such as today's quicker transportation and of course, the ever present modern-day marketing of products.