Before public Internet took off, there were scattered people who harbored certain proclivities, fetishes, tendencies toward the 'abnormal.' They were weird but because they were separated, they were harmless.
Then suddenly they could connect to people all over the world and started flocking together. "Oh, you like poop? Animal costumes? Children? Bloodletting? Thank God, I thought was the only one." They gathered in message boards, forums and chat rooms. They got support and back pats from other like minded individuals. Now they weren't just fringe weirdos, they were a community, and if anybody had the slightest inkling that they might like to fuck trees, these groups were there to water and nurture that seedlet. Soon the whole world knew of it.
Yes, this is the Internet's fault.