[zdragnar]

I think there's a difference between an opinion being hard to find, and a place to express the opinion being hard to find.

The more suppressed a view is, the more extreme the place where that view is allowed ends up being.

Those places don't normally allow rational debate either. They're just a different kind of toxic, and have their own rules for what will get you dog piled.

[JKCalhoun]

That's kind of how it has always been though.

Finding out that the people that share your views are people that you wouldn't want to associate with (I'm putting words in your mouth here, I'm sorry) is how I find I was able to grow up intellectually.

[zdragnar]

There have been places where reasonable debate was possible, but I suspect they were far more ephemeral than OP's recollection.

It's kinda sad to watch places you enjoyed fall into it, though. One particular subreddit that I've never seen be overtly political before now has an effectively endorsed opinion on someone (not Trump). There's no point engaging with it, because piling on more hate is the only socially acceptable opinion there.

[JKCalhoun]

Wild guess that that "someone" is Musk?

Regardless, if you like the guy, you should defend him. If you can do it in a noncombative way you might at least get some people to back off a bit.