I expect survey responses like this are very context dependent. This makes me think of happiness research. In some countries, it's considered a bit self-indulgent and tacky to be happy all the time, whereas in others it's considered antisocial to be unhappy - you should be happy constantly. Guess which countries' citizens report higher levels of happiness when surveyed? That doesn't necessarily mean that those countries are happier, because there's this confounding variable of value judgment associated with the two answers.<p>It's a lot "cooler" today to have edgy and polarizing opinions, so people make that a part of their identity. This is why even some people with mass media audiences in the millions complain constantly about how they're being silenced/censored. Imagine the reception such a complain would have gotten from a media personality (on their own show) in 1955 vs today.