Something like that happens, but we're talking about milliseconds. When the power is cut off, the magnetic field created by the current in the windings collapses. The lines of magnetic force move to the center of the winding and fade away. This motion induces a voltage in the windings, which creates another magnetic field, and another collapse. Sometimes this is a problem, but there are ways to deal with it.
However, you raise a relevant point, about stupid shit. Whatever a person believes is true is based on a model of reality and unless there is some kind of conflict, we never question our model of reality. In my years of working on cars for a living, there was never a week passed that I didn't have to listen to a customer's self diagnosis of their car's problem, based on their limited, or simply boneheadedly mistaken knowledge of how things work.
Even my very intelligent wife is subject to this kind of thing. She is convinced there is something wrong with our electricity, because light bulbs burn out sooner than she thinks they should. No amount of mansplaining can convince her differently.
