I don't know about silence/reluctance being widespread. I don't know against what you are comparing. Where are you listening? I have been bombarded with condemnation of all sorts for years since the explosion of social media. It could be we just reached peak outrage and everyone is beginning to moderate their condemnation/outrage.

It could also be that you are tuned to a particular channel look for a particular something that is more prominent outside your filter bubble.

There are social media analysis tools that can put real statistics to social media engagement on particular issues and sort the fake from the real.

Maybe you could reach out to people who do real statistics to see if what you perceive is real. I am not saying it isn't. I have not see what you see but beside Medium, we travel in different circles.

TEK