Polarization has definitely increased, even more so in the US than in Canada. The trigger was social media and its algorithms, which created these infamous echo chambers that many people walked into. Furthermore as people retreated more and more in the digital sphere (as pointed out by
@EagerBeaver ) less in-person social contacts meant less opportunities to exchange ideas in a
civil manner (social media, of course, fosters
uncivil discourse). These platforms are also excellent at generating anger and outrage, which fuel polarization (i.e. us vs. them). One of these long running polls in the US asks people if they would mary someone of the opposite political party, and the % of yes has never been so low. That's a pretty revealing indicator (feel free to fact check this one as I don't have the exact numbers at hand). Trump and his acolytes did not create this polarized environment but exploited it, as populists do. During the pandemic, it became mainstream media's turn to contribute to this polarization, as people who were critical of the official discourse were virtually ignored or labeled as conspiracy theorists. Once it became clear that the virus might have indeed escaped from the Wuhan lab, and that it was clearly NOT a conspiracy theory, it was too late. The Left, especially the woke left, is certainly not blameless. By policing thought, refusing to engage their ideological adversaries in rational debate, and almost criminalizing dissent, they went against some of the core tenets of modern democratic societies that date back to the Enlightenment age. Fortunately they have lost a lot of their cultural influence. One of the first lessons my dad taught me when I was in school was to read an equal amount of material I agree with an disagree with, and then to make my own opinion. This requires a conscious effort and can still done by consulting various media outlets, outside of social media. This is a principle I still apply to this day. (Disclaimer: no AI was used in writing this text).
