I would believe that this is more of a problem since the pandemic. It seems like more disagreements were, for some reason, wrapped up into very coarse tribal lines at around that time.

I suspect that a big part of this is human disconnection. In the past, you knew the people you saw in real life and you couldn't just discard them and replace them if they didn't repeat your own beliefs back to you. We also knew each other with more depth so people were less likely to be able to see each other in such simple ways.

Unfortunately, I don't see us going back to that level of social depth so I fear that this problem will only worsen and spread.