Perhaps it is out of fear of being socially outcast or financially penalized for even having an opinion let alone voicing it. When this trend began developing, I first noticed it in corporate cultures where being anything other than a team player, was frowned upon. Unfortunately this seems to have also altered people's thought processes as as well as their verbal skills.
People tend to think what they can verbalize.
Meaningless verbalization seems to have resulted in meaningless thought at best, and more often than not, no thought at all. We build Chevy trucks. A statement like that will cause each of us to rush out and buy a Chevy truck at any and all cost. Bear with me now, I'm getting to the road rage thing. I think it is important to look at just how skewed the government's, and the public's thinking has become.