I agree with your worrisome assessment, EEE. If we can't have a shared sense of reality, of what is really going on, then we can't have a meaningful conversation on how best to proceed. Additionally, if we censor ourselves, we won't have the back and forth exchanges that might yield positive results. Respect for so many institutions (government, the media, medicine, corporations, law enforcement, academia, religion,  etc.) has fallen. In the past, most Americans believed that at least some of these groups, imperfect as they have always been, could be trusted to keep us informed by offering their expertise.  The military seems to be the one institution that has bipartisan support.

How do these institutions regain the public trust? I honestly don't know but I have to believe that a commitment to free and open inquiry is part of it. I've read about the spiral of silence whereby individuals self-censor for fear of being ridiculed, ostracized, fired, etc. Too often, the rage-filled, most combative voices on the extremes intimidate the more thoughtful, and mild mannered voices. This does a disservice on several fronts. Wider perspectives are reduced and the  extreme voices can be wrongly viewed as being more representative of the general public than they in fact are. This further empowers the extremes as they are rewarded for their zealotry, and the media is looking for eyeballs because their business model demands them! Ever refined and strengthened algorithms, combined with a keen understanding of human psychology and sinister domestic and international manipulators, lead to dark and dangerous places. Good luck democracies of the world!

Peter T.