resurgence of authoritarianism worldwide, including lots of Nazis and racial/religious supremacists (white supremacists, for sure, but for instance, Modi has done some fairly appalling shit in India with pushing Hindu supremacy over the last several years)
If by "a while" you mean 1 month, then sure. There were tons of conspiracy theorists saying that the world was going to end on April 8th due to the solar eclipse.
They were going to fire up the LHC to open a dimension, which can only happen when the moon is casting a shadow 6000 km away. Then aliens... or something.
We need to find in ourselves the permeability to pass through a great invisible filter that separates the past and the future of humanity. We are collectively at the kind of moment that only happens once for a species.
It's not a shocking attention grabber anymore. Most people are well aware that the world is in a bad spot. Some idiots still argue about why, but most of us know why. We're in the end times. It's not biblical and no great battle will be taking place between good and evil. It's happening slowly, and increasingly hotter. The end is no longer nigh, it's here. I used to hope that we'd be better, and put in my part of the work. Now I still try, but I no longer have hope for humanity as a whole.
I wish they were right because it would be awesome if all religious fundies were taken somewhere else. Too bad they often aren't good people and many, if not most, would end up being left behind. Imagine the tantrums when they realize they've missed the rapture. I bet we'd see a rise in Satanism that wasn't just a front to challenge Christian bias in religious rights but instead a rebellion against a god that spurned them. And then I wonder if they'd be surprised that atheists still want nothing to do with them.