I am starting to think that much of the embrace of extremes we are seeing in popular political culture is due to the Internet. Not a Luddite view - just that the ability for anyone to broadcast anything everywhere has individuals out there competing much in the same way that newspapers competed back in the Pulitzer / Hearst era of full blown Yellow Journalism.
Not a new observation, but I am wondering if there needs to be a sort of ethical credentialing system out there that makes maintaining a reputation for accuracy, completeness and diligence vital to earning/having an audience.