ouch, we've got a couple of burn victims!

This is what happens when you squander all your goodwill with a community you claim to support.

I doubt that you've missed the war of words over Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum's book on scientific illiteracy in the United States as well as the critiques over his blame-the-scientists approach and aversion for saying necessary but potentially unpopular things. Now, an online spoof magazine decided to take up the controversial buzz and make a point with a healthy dose of biting sarcasm.

How did we reach this dismal state? According to Mooney and Kirshenbaum, much of the blame lies with the members of the art community, who do not spend enough time explaining art to a general population. "What we need", writes Mooney, "is a new generation of Andy Warhols, capable of making art seem relevant and understandable to a general audience."

via The Spoof and Jerry Coyne

The writer of this Onion-esque piece, a certain Sarl Cagan (wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more), pulls no punches and adds a few notes in an acid pen. Even more merciless are his abbreviated author bios which show just how quickly a popular science writer can squander the good will of his potential audience with a bad book and a promotional effort which becomes toxic to the very people trying to promote and encourage scientific thought.