If negative includes perfectly valid criticism, then who cares? Dismissive? Which comments?
Rather than generalising over this thread-tree, why not respond to some? It seems a bit early for you to be invoking a stereotype.
Being scientific means that when conclusions take you to places you are not comfortable with, you keep going anyways.
To avoid doing so is dangerous, and I see so much of that avoidance today, unfortunately for all of us. Reject that "religion" and free yourself from guilt.
Whether the past was better or worse is irrelevant. I only seek to understand the findings and have them inform our current times. I do find it hard to believe that life in the Victorian Era was longer/more enjoyable than today simply because modern medicine has evolved so much and because we know so much more about what harms people.