How about “human beings only use 10% of their brains”? Not political, not flamebait, but possibly also “a lot of people say it and sounds plausible” rather than armchair theorizing. “Everyone should drink eight glasses of water a day” is probably in the same category.
I looked through Wikipedia’s list of common misconceptions for anything that people might arise independently in lots of people through reasonable reflection, rather than just “facts” that sneak into the public consciousness, but none of them really qualify.
How about “human beings only use 10% of their brains”? Not political, not flamebait, but possibly also “a lot of people say it and sounds plausible” rather than armchair theorizing. “Everyone should drink eight glasses of water a day” is probably in the same category.
I looked through Wikipedia’s list of common misconceptions for anything that people might arise independently in lots of people through reasonable reflection, rather than just “facts” that sneak into the public consciousness, but none of them really qualify.
Of course, false “facts” can also easily sneak into less trafficked Wikipedia pages, such as its list of common misconceptions.