When did we start just disregarding the rules around here?

[DetlefK]

9. Can you name specifics?

If you are talking about the toxicity with which some people lash out against Franken, that's nothing new. About 2 years ago there was an OP about a man groping a woman, she punched him and was then arrested or something like that. People on DU argued that a woman being groped has every right to defend herself in any way, including straight-up killing the guy if she chooses to.

Yes. People on DU demanded that a man groping a woman deserves the death-penalty. Doled out by a mob in the heat of the moment.



If you are refering to the divisiveness, that has been around since the democratic primary 2016. I'm not from the US and I was shocked at the bile and hatred that the Clinton- and Bernie-fans had for each other on DU. It was like a Zombie-apocalypse: One day everything is peaceful, and the next day people are trying to kill each other.



If you are refering to the whataboutism, that could be as simple as degrading standards of civilized communication. I go to Alt-Right and Alt-Left sites sometimes and half the time the posts over there are where people vent some grievance absolutely unrelated to what the OP was about.
(The Alt-Right has the habit of bringing up Jews in every discussion and how the thing of the OP is somehow the fault of the Jews.
The Alt-Left has the habit of bringing up american imperialism in every discussion and how everything is the fault of the US/NATO.)