It seems very obvious to me that certain constituencies in online commenting are at all-time highs for loudness:
* police/prison/statist notions of justice
* auto industry / auto-first infra
* both pro- and anti-israel
* pro-IP / copyright industrial complex
There are a bunch more. Maybe it's a shift in actual human sentiment, but without evidence, I don't think it makes sense for that to be the first presumption.
Fortunately, we're gonna get this here web-o-trust thing going in the next 10 years or so and not have to doubt who the humans are anymore. Riiight?