Its more than that. Modern day writers have a shitty, incorrect world view. Therefore their subtext is shit and meaningless.
I remember thinking back when I watched Star Trek: TNG that the series stood out in terms of maturity. They had action and suspense, but they didn't rely on them to the extent of most other shows. It could do episodes with no fighting, and no villains; which was unusual for sci-fi. Unfortunately the vision Star Trek was founded upon has been abandoned.
But, if you want to see where the media really went to hell, just look at the news. They were always supposed to be exorcising the kind of ideals the characters in Star Trek followed for real. They've pretty much given up on even pretending they're objective intellectually honest these days, and embraced the kind of sensationalism they used to look down upon.
You can either be cool or you can be a responsible, caring adult. Children chose cool.
(post is archived)