Why have we become so damn mean? Annastacia Palaszczuk opening up and being photographed with her partner Shaun Drabsch becomes a bitch about how much superannuation she gets.
Paul Pisasale, under investigation after being found with $50,000 cash, is now the brunt of crass and defamatory jokes - before we know all of the facts.
And gorgeous Carrie Bickmore, who lost her husband to brain cancer, has to defend herself against vicious attacks because her campaign for us to donate clashed with another!
The list goes on, and on, but it is the personal, pejorative and noisy delivery of the criticism that signals a new low in public debate.
Annastacia Palaszczuk's budget is uninspiring and any economic analysis shows its unlikely to pull Queensland, and particularly the north of the State, out of the doldrums.
But is that enough for the Premier and her treasurer Curtis Pitt to be pilloried so personally? To be attacked because of the way they look or sound, or who they live with?
If Paul Pisasale is guilty, let's throw the book at him. But can't we wait until it's proved?
Just imagine the money he could make in the defamation claims against those accusing him now of personal and political corruption - if indeed he is cleared. Maybe, perhaps maybe, his MS has also worsened, and he's genuinely ill.
Call me naive, but when did the benefit of the doubt escape all judgements? And when did the law change to allow free commentary that is as libelous as it is malicious, prior to conviction?
And ponder what might happen if, instead of having Carrie Bickmore forced to apologise for raising money for charity, the trolls who ripped into her actually donated a few coins?
Social media hasn't helped a public discourse that now sits at road rage pitch. Just read Donald Trump, when he's in any mood. Or pick a hashtag related to a politician, or anyone with a public profile and watch the vitriol stream down the screen. Without a filter, and without reason.
The impact of what is happening has several consequences.
Firstly, people are turning off politics in droves; a factor we've seen in almost every election - at every level - in the past couple of years.
Quietly, without fanfare, the majority (and increasingly the young) are making up their mind, without reference to public debate, and delivering their verdict.
But we all lose without that public participation of the majority, who are now too scared of the abusive repercussions of joining any discussion, even if they can offer an expert opinion.
That also means the valuable contribution of those we should hear is lost. Instead of the economic analysis on Labor's budget, we get the screaming hysteria on why it is bad/horrible/good/great/awesome/election-losing.
Instead of a genuine knowledgeable discussion about how to deal with a terror threat that has killed too many in Australia, the only voices we hear are the extremists - on both sides of the debate.
That impacts too, on the calibre of candidates come election time; we're making a rod for our own back.
But perhaps more insidious is the effect of the current abusive discourse on our children, who are now growing up in an angry, irate world where forgiveness doesn't exist, and reputations don't stand for much.
Just listen to the way teen boys are referring to teen girls, and how teen girls are labelling their female peers.
Watch this space. Before long, we'll be blaming that on schools/teachers/parents - or anyone else we can find.
In this week's torrent of abuse, it was difficult to find air to acknowledge those who made the 2017 Queen's Honours list; marvellous and talented professionals whose voices should be heard in public discourse.
Businesswomen like Keri Craig-Lee, and educators like Griffith University vice-chancellor Professor Ian O'Connor and St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School Karen Spiller and former Brisbane Girls Grammar School prinicipal Dr Amanda Bell for starters.
Who knows, we might even learn something.
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