The Rest Of Us Will Probably Be Wasted

Publishing research papers, especially in the social sciences, can get to be a bit on the tedious side. There's a natural incentive to try to make an otherwise dry and inaccessible topic seems modish and hip by giving the paper a ridiculous title, or by stressing a tenuous application it may have to something that everyone's actually heard of. Moreover, journalists are understandably drawn to stories pointing up the ludicrousness of academia. Put these two factors together, and the I-Can't-Believe-They-Got-Paid-To-Research-That story is born, and then blown out of proportion.

That said, come on, seriously, for Christ's sake.