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I think people just like a good story, which leads to this weird adoration for the barely exceptional just because they are of identity group x. For instance, Amelia Earhart was likely a terrible pilot. People really wanted the story of a female aviator, and that's probably what got her killed:

https://archive.is/APHbT

Meanwhile no one is going to talk about Hanna Reitsch, an absolutely stellar German aviator, and the only woman awarded the Iron Cross First Class and the Luftwaffe Combined Pilots-Observation Badge in Gold with Diamonds during World War II. Because she was of a certain wrong identity.

There's also stuff like the famous photo of the stack of code that Margaret Hamilton wrong "by hand" that turns out to be an entire fabrication:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1629315139169075200.html

All this unhistorical bullshit diminishes people with actually great accomplishments. I also feel like "who cares." Let people stand or fall on their merits with them given no handicaps just because they're part of your favorite victim group.