There are some quite different things at play here.

You have people pushing agendas and using any weaknesses (real or perceived) in their opponent's wording or argument to misrepresent them unfairly. It's most noticeable in politics. Not nice behaviour, but not new! Most sensible people recognise it and discount it.

You have small minded people who feel they have to call you on typos and the like as if this was a matter of importance...thet's something totally different. They have always been with us, but again most of us just roll our eyes heavenwards and ignore!

And you have PC gone out of hand...well, in fact by definition there's nothing wrong with political correctness. It's only when it gets taken too far or is abused (and that happens too often!)that it's a problem. Fortunately, most of can easily distinguish between 'good PC' and 'bad PC', and treat each accordingly.


In today's more frenetic world where everyone is clamouring for their own relevance, these phenomena become exaggerated,and I don't know that we can change it. We may just have to be more patient.