Great post @dwinblood!
I have also encountered the phenomenon on a daily basis, and have often been wondering why people do it. I agree that fear does play a big part, however i have found that most people are simply mentally lazy, and don't want any inputs that could have an impact on their reality tunnel. Furthermore I think most people are completely satisfied with living in dogmatic social constructions (religion, science, politics etc.) because they give them all the answers they need and no one should tell them otherwise.
Upwoted and followed :)