But our ancestors rightly panicked when something really scary was happening right in front of them. Not when they got a text message about events on the other side of the world, or what could happen "in theory". The latter is more akin to mental illness which is not a beneficial adaptation.
There is nothing rational about this, and those who seek to compel rationality on the populace are wasting their energies.
It's encoded into the lizard brain. The reaction occurs at a level that is not conscious and is CERTAINLY not reasoned.