Why is it that doomsday prophecies tend to gain so much traction?

I don’t know about the others, but when I was a kid, I was obsessed with the “end of the world”. Everything seemed so boring and the way things were described in Revelation were so much more interesting than anything that stuff that was happening now. Rivers turning to blood, people floating up to the sky.. I mean.. that would stir things up. In a morbid way, I think dreaming about the end of the world can kind of be like dreaming of a zombie outbreak or an alien invasion. All the normal rules of society will be destroyed and things that matter now won’t then. Who cares if you get fired or missed a mortgage payment if the FREAKING END OF THE WORLD is here?

I think another thing is.. once the end of the world comes, you as a Christian will have the ultimate come-uppance. There’s no more debate about whether or not god exists and if he/she/it/.them does, who that god is. Once judgement day happens THERE IT IS. 100% PROOF! That you were right and getting what you deserve and all the wicked people were wrong and are getting what they deserve.

Horrified fascination.

“There’s a sucker born every minute.” – trad., often attributed to P.T. Barnum

The countdown has already begun. There are lots of celebrities who also believe it.

Many people tend to be irrational pessimists instead of rational optimists.

Root cause: Our brain’s amygdala

Everyone alive today is the descendant of fraidy cats. Everyone else was eaten by the dinosaurs and saber-toothed tigers or killed by meteorites, volcanoes or lightning.

Only remedy: Use of our prefrontal cortex turning into a

rationaloptimist.com

I think it depends on why people are searching for it. Some religious doomsday people came to the boardwalk one weekend and started preaching about this crap, and everyone created a mob and kicked them the hell outta there lol. It was a grand sight.

Religion always has been the biggest deceiver, so anything else is of course going to gain the attention of a large amount of people.

Some people are attentive to doomsday stuff because they’re aware of the “damage” that would be done if an asteroid hits the planet. They realize that asteroids are definitely out there and pass by the earth on a regular basis. Others know that the earth tilted 7” when the Japan earthquake occurred and know it can happen again and maybe a lot more than 7”. And others think that an atomic bomb could be launched against the US. All of this and more natural disasters tend to get the attention of thousands of people. I can’t see how anyone could just laugh about what “kooks” these doomsayers are and not ever think that some preparation might be in order. I dont think of it as much having to do with religion but as being informed and not burying our heads in the sand. Why is the govenment buying up dehydrated food? Why are they not talking about the Mississippi River rising and heading towards New Orleans?
People want to know what’s going on; they can’t rely on the government to tell them.

I think we are all searching for something beyond ourselves. Like, having a God, and hope for a future, is attractive. And for someone to be able to predict the future, is kinda fascinating, since many would love to know what is coming. But, it ends up being a topic that affects us all, if the world is ending. And people capitalize on it. In my opinion, they are just desperate for attention.