Yup - and this gets amplified by the tendency that most social media platforms have, of heavily boosting the visibility of clickbait and repost-bait content. It's, yes, the "Sad!" pattern of conveniently deflecting controversy by attacking one's perceived opponents, plus the increased visibility that this gets you. This is something that social media platforms could very much work on - even some simple sentiment analysis could be useful in stopping these outrage cascades.