how reality tv deplatformed the counterculture

The media has a much more effective tool now anyway
Social Media

i dunno
i don't think it's more effective... than when there were like 3 channels and 3 newspapers and that was the entireity of the media offerings
but it is very manipulative

You might be right about that, there's a lot of conflicting views / interests that cause a lot of conflict on Social Media.

i think part of why it seems worse is longer overarching cultural trends
like
there was still a counterculture from the 60s hanging around into the late 90s
countercultural voices could get a platform on like, exploitation talk shows and stuff
colombine and reality tv ended that
tv execs could manufacture their own sensationalism in a way they didn't in the 90s... they just grabbed the ambient sensation, and disaffection, floating around
there was still some demand for authenticity
that was dead by 2000
and those kinds of characters aren't a good fit for reality tv
no one is provocative 24/7
also no one wants to be filmed doing illegal narcotics
whereas being a screaming moronic asshole 24/7 is easy