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It’s not so much the internet as it is advertising. A lot of what we’re dealing with now came from the advent of 24 hour news networks. Prior to that, there was a half hour of local news and a half hour of national news twice per night and then a morning news show on each of three networks. Then 24 hour news networks came around and they had to fill that 24 hours with whatever would keep people glued to the channel so the network could pull in more ad revenue. That lead to more sensational stories and to other networks specifically catering to people’s baser emotions. Then the internet comes about and it all starts happening on a grander scale, working for clicks instead of ratings. There’s always people willing to encourage the worst of us as long as they can make a buck off of it.