The internet happened. It allows all sorts of people to gather in their own echo chambers, and feed off of their emotions. Echo chambers consume information th

The internet happened. It allows all sorts of people to gather in their own echo chambers, and feed off of their emotions. Echo chambers consume information that matches their biases, discards other information, and treats any source which argues differently as the enemy. Rinse repeat for any and all causes. (Some causes may have inherent dampeners in extreme behavior, others will not.) At least that's my understanding of the current dynamic. (related reading: The spreading of misinformation on social media - http://www.pnas.org/content/113/3/554.full http://www.pnas.org/content/113/3/554.full)