Yes. In times of fear (and let's face it---we are fed a steady diet of it right now) people turn to faith or "simple" solutions. Life is tough, and if it helps them, OK. Science IS complicated in many ways and most people simply don't understand enough basic mathematics, etc. to accept some of the conclusions. Remember, half of all the population is below average (or is it mean and/or median?) and almost none of them understand a standard deviation or probabilities (although poker players aren't bad at that!)
Geology is one of the sciences that provides lots of exciting stuff...and very little that is predictable and safe!