Let's get this straight: we all have the right to be cringe. It's a free country, as they say, and this instinct is basically baked into our DNA. What is not acceptable is when we are cringeworthy at the expense of others, which is unfortunately what happens a lot of the time.
Either way, cringe behavior is something addictive, for both the perpetrator and the witnesses. Despite the internal horror it inspires, it is difficult to look away.
No wonder it has had such an enduring popularity on the internet. A lot of social media is designed to make us feel bad, and that inspires us to keep on looking for more content that has that feel bad factor. We'll never do better/worse than the world of cringe, something of which we are all capable. This only makes it more compelling when we see it in the wild, mid car crash.