Wow, you knocked it out of the park. This is exactly how I feel about the direction the internet, or maybe even western society as a whole, has been going in over the last 10 years.
It might be possible to trace this back to the inception of the 24 hour news networks if not earlier; that first taste of ad-fueled insanity, and the modern terrorist attacks of (2001-0)9-11 on US soil sort of catalyzed the trend. It really became solidly about fear and outrage, and the enfeeblement of being unable to actually do anything to address that negative emotional state.
A real solution is going to require the people as a whole to "grow up", to take responsibility in the sense of breaking the cycles of fear, violence, and greed. To instead focus on building a world where we all get better, and do better overall, rather than individually getting enough and kicking the ladder off for those that should follow.