Yeah, I was thinking about this earlier and I think I do give people more of the benefit of the doubt than I should ("If they dumb down chemistry for the non-majors, how can people still fail?" I asked. . .) Perhaps I should say most people educated and interested enough to go read the news probably wouldn't think that?
Admitting that I am not a mental genius, I assume most normal folks got the same inference.
Sadly, it seems I was wrong.