...he was yelling at fig trees, tossing tables...

Apoplectic fantasies, for some reason I can't quite figure out, are appealing. Gives a dopamine / cortisol rush, flight or fight, click bait, endless buzz of bad. Hell, Issaac Newton was into it, and he didn't have Twitter.

(Newton on Twitter! I'll have to check, because probably?)

Something I think about: apocalyptic views gives a purpose. "I'm a bad ass and I'll survive. I've thought ahead, have a van, and some peanut butter."

It's a fantasy.

Also, it is a business. All those headlines could have said "new data suggests the earth's core's rotation is slowing."

But does that get clicks and retweets? No.

Fear gets clicks. For thousands of years. And money. Lots o' money. Out of fear, humans will throw away all they have to preserve what they have in anticipation of something that never happens. Oldest con in the book.