I come from a rather traditional background and when I first read that book, the womanizing parts really put me off and I actually never finished reading the book. But it seems to me, looking at the core of western culture from its outskirts, that being a womanizer is something that is sort of celebrated, no?

I liked this YouTube video from the blue site: https://www.metafilter.com/206671/The-Greatest-Showman-Richa...

A very well researched dive into how his legend came to be, some of the darker sides of his personality, and some discussion of his very real contributions to science.

The same impulses of MAGA culture warriors to protect US history against "woke" is explored here. Our cultural icons are all flawed, because they're human, but examining them critically is very hard because we project so much on them. Navigating this moment is very hard because of "cancel culture" and "anti-cancel culture". We can't and shouldn't erase these men (and it's overwhelmingly men) from history, but trying to add any nuance or criticality to their story is very difficult in our current moment.