"Science", as it is represented in the media, and in turn repeated and enforced (not unlike religion, interestingly) on social media and in social circles.
As opposed, of course, to actual science.
"Perception is reality." - Lee Atwater, Republican political strategist.
https://www.cbs46.com/news/perception-is-reality/article_835...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater
"Sauron, enemy of the free peoples of Middle-Earth, was defeated. The Ring passed to Isildur, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever, but the hearts of men are easily corrupted. And the ring of power has a will of its own. It betrayed Isildur, to his death."
"And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge."
https://www.edgestudio.com/node/86110
Threads like this one, and many others like it, well demonstrate the precarious situation we are in at this level. Imagine the state of affairs around the average dinner table. Although, it's not too infrequent to hear the common man admit (which is preceded by realization) that they don't know something. As one moves up the modern day general intelligence curve, this capability seems to diminish. What the exact cause of this is a bit of a mystery (24 hour cable propaganda and the complex dynamics of social media is my best guess) - hopefully someone has noticed it and is doing some research, although I've yet to hear it mentioned anywhere. Rather, it seems we are all content to attribute any misunderstanding that exists in modern society to Fox News, Russia, QAnon, or the alt-right. I'm a bit concerned that this approach may not be the wisest, but I imagine we will find out who's right soon enough.