it's very petty of me but one of the comments on my grant proposal was that critiquing the tendency toward Great Man narratives of computer history is "overdrawn and out of date" and I'm sorry, in a world where people think Elon Musk is smart there is definitely still value in critiquing Great Men narratives imo??
@Wolven yeah I don't think any of the historians who have countered that narrative and like, won awards for their work would say that it's no longer necessary? a handful of SHOT book prizes does not a social sea change make sorry
@ingrid No, if anything most of them would say it's even more necessary than ever because regardless of the awards and even increased public profile of the counters, people KEEP DOING IT
@ingrid hmm sounds like someone in the pocket of Big Great Man
@ingrid wow that sucks in an infuriating way! overdrawn ...compared to what exactly?
@jomc IDK! not sure if they read my critique as being too "no one is talking about this" or something (feel like I did an ok job citing examples of good critical work?) but it felt weird amidst otherwise totally valid points
@ingrid Can't help but imagine a chucklehead rando walking out of a matinee of Hidden Figures seven years ago and thinking, "Great film and... case closed!"
@jomc listen, there's an out of print book from a university press that costs $700. it won a prize from an academic association, once. Obviously our work is done
@ingrid reminds me of the cloth-headed thinking that denied a friend a grant proposal because, "WordPress is not a content management system." Capricious nonsense.
@ingrid So sorry to hear. With these comments, it's never going to be out of date. I hope you'll find other support for your work.
@ingrid You are very correct.