This is funny

Don't even know how Tether even comes into play, it's just another altcoin

Do a little reading and your smile will erase at the possibilities for doom it offers.
It's not really an alt. It's possibly nearly a billion dollars of buying created out of thin air but no one really knows.
Any FIAT/CRYPTO gateway should be considered the doomsday device then, the people coming into crypto space now are mostly dealing with FIAT->BTC not FIAT->USDT->BTC.
I can see traders being worried, not so much average joes who plan to hodl.
I don't see the reason to panic honestly.