In answer to the original question:
"I've recently wondered a bit why is the pole reversal so popular among doomsayers and conspiration theorists."
I don't know why. Sometimes I think they confuse a magnetic pole reversal with a physical planetary pole reversal. As the Earth's magnetic field weakens, the strong dipole will break apart into a number of mini-dipoles which will cancel out much of Earth's magnetic field strength. A similar process happens regularly in the sun. In this weakened state the pole will sometimes change magnetic polarity. The magnetic field strength has been dropping significantly over the past century but it is still quite strong compared to the normal field strength exhibited over the past 2 million years. The Earth's magnetic field strength shields the Earth from Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR). As the field weakens, it will allow greater cosmic ray penetration. Recent published studies have shown a link between GCR flux rate and cloudiness. It is my opinion as the Earth's magnetic field weakens to its nominal value, the Holocene interglacial will come to an end and the Earth will again slide back into a glacial period in the present Great Pleistocene Ice Age.