Technically, the rule changes aren't the problem.

The lack of stat bonuses for races actually does allow for more creativity in role-playing and less min/maxing. Same with the changes to alignment.

The more power in the hands of the PCs for creativity in the role-playing game, the better, imo. It ultimately always comes down to the DM, anyhow. A good DM will evaluate the choices players make in real-time (the alignment of decisions) and change the reactions of the story to suite this alignment. A good PC will act "in-character" in the manner that suits his character rather than act how he himself would act while not role-playing. Less restrictions (more freedom and less min/maxing traps) allow for better role-playing in-the-end.

What has truly changed though is the quality of the players. The D&D community isn't all 110-120 IQ nerds (like it once was) who've read and watched tons of fantasy content such that they wish to add to the story. The average member of the community now is some 90 IQ mouth breather who cares more about promoting his LGBTQ+ radicalism in the fantasy world he's role-playing a PC for.

With high quality players and DMs you still have racism, you still have characters making decisions that align with the personality of the character they've decided to role-play as and you still have significant differences in the interactions between PCs, NPCs and monsters, given inherent biases toward certain characteristics such as sex, race, appearance and behaviors.

At the end of the day, the rules don't matter much. You can play any edition and have tons of fun without any "woke" nonsense, given the rules. It's the quality of the players that ultimately matter and that is truly what has gone downhill in the last 20 years.

Technically, the rule changes aren't the problem.

The lack of stat bonuses for races actually does allow for more creativity in role-playing and less min/maxing. Same with the changes to alignment.

The more power in the hands of the PCs for creativity in the role-playing game, the better, imo. It ultimately always comes down to the DM, anyhow. A good DM will evaluate the choices players make in real-time (the alignment of decisions) and change the reactions of the story to suite this alignment. A good PC will act "in-character" in the manner that suits his character rather than act how he himself would act while not role-playing. Less restrictions (more freedom and less min/maxing traps) allow for better role-playing in-the-end.

What has truly changed though is the quality of the players. The D&D community isn't all 110-120 IQ nerds (like it once was) who've read and watched tons of fantasy content such that they wish to add to the story. The average member of the community now is some 90 IQ mouth breather who cares more about promoting his LGBTQ+ radicalism in the fantasy world he's role-playing a PC for.

With high quality players and DMs you still have racism, you still have characters making decisions that align with the personality of the character they've decided to role-play as and you still have significant differences in the interactions between PCs, NPCs and monsters, given inherently biased toward certain characteristics such as sex, race, appearance and behaviors.

At the end of the day, the rules don't matter much. You can play any edition and have tons of fun without any "woke" nonsense, given the rules. It's the quality of the players that ultimately matter and that is truly what has gone downhill in the last 20 years.