[bagels]

The vast majority of encounters are thousands of meters per second relative velocity. There is enough energy in this to smash a satellite pretty good, even if it encounters one of the thousands of pieces of relatively small debris.

If two objects have a close approach once today, this means they will likely have another in the future due to the nature of orbits.

The visualizations are done this way because there is no way to draw everything to scale and have them be visible.

Planes move slower and still have midair commissions.

Maybe the amount of press it gets is too high for you, but it is a real concern for satellite operators. The amount of media attention given to celebrities is the real problem.