People have always been like this, but before social media and the formation of little echochambers of like-minded idiots the environment wasn't really favorable for letting one's asshole-flag fly freely in the wind, so to speak.
This is part of it. Before, if you - I dunno, got off on watching women squash bugs with their feet, you pretty much had to keep it to yourself/the hookers you hired to do it. Nowadays, you can not only easily find all the material you could want, but also a group of like-minded people you can share your fetish with. And as we've seen time and time again, when people with bad ideas gather in a place and are allowed to fester, they reinforce their shared delusions/perversions and get even more fixated on the thing they have in common. eg Furries, troons, tankies, nationalists, and so on.
But I also think the current social media setups, with incredibly powerful corporations controlling what are essentially public, albeit virtual, spaces, isn't particularly good for the people who have become the product being sold. I think social media promotes narcissism and blunts empathy, both net negatives for social cohesion and the ability for people to not be complete monsters to strangers, seeing as there's a vast difference between what most people would say out loud vs. what they're willing to say online.
I flip-flop on whether the benefits of social media and the internet outweigh the costs - because there are definitely benefits. But the Farms aren't really a place where we spend time with people who are using social media wisely, positively or kindly, and I'm sure that's influencing my perception. Much as I enjoy making fun, I think there are a few lolcows that have negatively affected my view of humanity as a whole, and I'd probably be better off if I didn't even know they existed.
