I still just kinda don't get it. I did get it with the Orange Box way back, but stopped playing around the first engy update. I didn't hate the game, I just had other stuff going on. I only came back to it within the last year and haven't noticed any particularly new cancer. People were doing either cancerous 6v6/highlander shit or micspamming while spraying furry futa everywhere then (often both), and it seems like they're doing the same now. New items look and act dumb, but people have been complaining about janky out of place items since the Ubersaw and ill-fitting art since the Boreal/Alpine texture sets introduced with Arena. Casual's UI/UX isn't great compared to just hitting up Valve Official #32 off the server browser like it's still 2009, but it seems to work for the most part.
I guess it'd be more accurate to say I don't get why there's new anger. The game is what it is and always has been and doesn't appear to have changed more than the rest of the internet has. If anything, TF2's sweatlords and bronies broke containment.
I will agree that Emporium and similar "content creator" groups are dogshit but even then, anyone who has done any kind of modding let alone actual game dev can tell you that 90% of "devs" are brittle retards and willing contact with the source engine and its workflow specifically is not only an indicator of predisposition to mental derangement but also causes its own psychic damage