As for your post, it has ever been thus. Think back to the Burchers or go to a Libertarian Party Meeting and you’ll see the same tendency. It is part of the human condition, though certain times and tendencies display it more than others.

To the extent that we are in an ideological war with jihadists, beating them soundly, even in the media, is critical to reducing thier appeal. There’s a certain limbic reactivity in the human animal that infects even the most rational. Folks don’t like to adhere to a side that is manifestly losing. That same phenomenon was true during the 78 year long struggle with International Bolshevism. When their confidence cracked enough, they began to question their own legitimacy, just as the British Empire efectively suppressed the worst evils in Islam for a long, long time by making most Muslims see that they were beaten if they chose the path of pobscurantist resistance.