I recently did a deep dive on the ufo community, its entire structure is built on stories that reinforce each other yet have no evidence. I think when weaponized against reason, they are very dangerous.
now I'm having trouble thinking of a story that doesn't have these same flaws. religion comes to mind as well. especially if the story is trying to expose some truth about reality.
data and cold logic is the only cure against this massive adversary. stories are ubiquitous, data and reason are not.