i'm not really sure how much i agree; i'd say it's more like only a handful of specific genres and shows get overinflated importance while anything outside of that gets ignored.
i'd argue anime in general was more appreciated in the late 2000s/early 2010s, i felt like a wide variety of stuff all got equally as popular at around the same time, but among a smaller group of people, whereas now even more people are only exclusively into either some shounen series or one popular SoL.
i also can't relate to ever being bullied for liking anime in the past, though that could be because i only really spoke to a small circle of friends while i was still in school. i get bullied by other anime "fans" now, though for liking the wrong series or the wrong characters in the wrong way...