The only difference of “cancel culture” today and what it used to be is the fact that we are absolutely consumed by media. You didn’t used to sit at work flipping through the newspaper for an article that induced some sort of giant reaction. Click baiting and fear-mongering have become the most efficient ways to generate traffic. So people throw themselves into blatantly misinformed articles because whether we know it or not we love being outraged or feeling a strong emotion towards something in a world that cares so little about how you feel. The real thing producing regression/collapse is irresponsible journalism and people’s unwillingness to dig a little deeper.