It's probably always been that way. (Score 1)

Maybe it's always been this way, and I'm just now noticing it.

I'm sure that it's always been that way to some degree. People have been vile throughout various time periods. In other time periods, they have been more respectful.

Frank Zappa, a musician I admire greatly, was given to calling people "Nazis." Artistic license, or something we could do without?

It is something that we could do without. People should be precise in their accusations. Calling someone a Nazi is quite an exaggeration for almost anybody.

Maybe we need more choices in our discussions. For example, instead of asking, "Artistic license, or something we could do without?", maybe we need to more options to choose from. What if it is neither artistic license & is not something that we could do without?

That seems to be the problem of a 2 party system. It tries to offer you this or that as if everything is a choice of this or that. For example, when it comes to saving money, you want to save as much as you can. When it comes to being generous with your time & money, you want to offer as much as you can.