It's Basically the G.I.F.T (great internet f**kwad theory)
Basically take a random person (any random person), + Internet Anonymity + Random Always Shifting Audience = Total F**kwad
The internet is always edgier because of this, basically any person you might know in real life who is mildly unpleasant or even polite can turn out to
be horrible online because there is virtually no consequence for committing such acts.
for example, someone paints a wall with graffiti, harasses people, and is a downright jerk in real life, by consequence people shun them, authority might have a word
with them, and all in all whatever you do or say could directly affect you.
now online is another story, let's say some random jerk gets into a forum/game/community starts spamming BS, trolls people, scams, hacks etc..... the worst that could
happen is getting such people perma-banned reported etc, but then again you might simply remake an account and go elsewhere and repeat the cycle over and over again
the thing is, there is no true (or at least load-bearing) consequence for acting like a total idiot online, and in fact the way it was built will at least sub-consciously
encourage this sort of behavior for all of us (for jerks to be jerks, and for decent people to disregard ANY form of argument/comments as something irrelevant on the long run)
that apathy generated by consequence gets exploited online by mixing it with a good dose of (possibly real) facts and plain ol' bulls***
Take the feminism arguments online as an example, the rant itself originally had valid points, but eventually the irrational hatred, and plain nonsense given by
those who simply joined the bandwagon made it lose almost all form of credibility (same for the MRA) eventually both devolved into a primal form of bashing the opposing sex
in an endless online war where sooner or later people will stop caring about it, regardless of what real or unreal facts and arguments it generates.
same goes for any form of argument, under the internet's "apathy glasses" expect really significant stuff to be downplayed and corrupted, if you consider something
"serious business" bear in mind someone out there (possibly many) do not.