It's not about conspiracy theories. It's about reality. You even explicitly called it out: culture. That's just the way humans work, for better or worse. One of my points, and I think a point of Disciplined Minds, is that scientists are sometimes not honest or self-aware of the culture that they're a part of. Science is not a purely rational endeavor. There's some fashion and belief to it.

> Wheeler had significant contributions, had the right pedigree, the right schools. I don't see how he would be at a disadvantage today.

I didn't mean it as a critique upon Wheeler's potential. He was incredible. But he switched fields and research directions several times during his long and successful career. I'm not sure academics today have that fluidity in their careers (not due to internal forces but rather the external ones).