[Swizec]

> Or is there some other change in society that is a bigger factor?

Tribalism. We seem to be hardwired for it, to seek it out. As the immediate bonds in family/religion/neighborhood/etc are being torn down by modern individualism, so new tribal bonds are formed.

In the age of the internet, as you said, you can find a voice that validates any belief. A community forms around the smallest nugget of common belief.

And so tribes are formed.

Mind you we also seem to be living in a society that increasingly believes that anything you think, you immediately believe to be true. That to hold opposing beliefs, or at least to inspect and consider thoughts that are “wrong”, immediately makes you ... I dunno. Almost like thinking something immediately makes it your sole belief.

So it becomes impossible, dangerous even, to allow opposing beliefs to even be expressed lest they take you over.

Thought police basically.