This made me laugh. I love xkcd when I get it (which is most of the time but not all the time). I do think sociologists have a pretty damn good idea why that stupid saying gets repeated: because it "feels" true, and because it supports the Science is Suspicious mentality that a lot of people have. See:
technophobia and
chemophobia.
Yeah, I know the mouse text is a joke. This is just something that spins me up. Technophobia, not mouse text with jokes. Those are fine.