It’s a combination of virtue signalling and a psychological expression of Munchausen by proxy. What I find horrifying are the adults who should know better, parents and teachers, terrifying children by spinning all this fear and woe in front of them, and then taking to social media to angst about how scared their little kids are that the sky is falling, and how terrible any dissent is because it makes their kids cry, and so forth. I grew up in the 70’s, the golden age of extended hijacking and hostage-taking dramas. This is the psychological equivalent - “Do as I say or this tender little psyche gets hurt!” It still gets my back up, years later.
Most don’t know what MBP is. I do. I do not know what “virtue signalling”is. However, the rest of your comment is understandable. Thank you.
>> terrifying children
Yes, you are so right.
I think there may be a combination of things going on here.
Some, as you say, are using the kids as hostages. I regard this as child abuse. Children should not be psychologically terrorized and manipulated by those whose job it is to protect them.
I think some adults are so distraught themselves that they are projecting their own fears onto the kids. (Much the same way as they project their own flaws onto conservatives.) These are people who are afraid to own their own feelings. They are also the type who are utterly without empathy or the ability to understand that not everyone feels what they feel.