tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post9191786535940729395..comments2023-10-08T05:00:23.559-04:00Comments on Clarissa's Blog: Dorothy SeymourClarissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11027134365260069910noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post-80142616626668781612011-02-25T19:14:38.918-05:002011-02-25T19:14:38.918-05:00I don't know if you read the Lisbeth Salander ...I don't know if you read the Lisbeth Salander trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and so on), but even if you didn't you may have been aware that after the author's sudden death, his wealth via royalty passed onto his father and brother, and not his domestic partner of several decades. Contentions then surfaced from his friends and colleagues that the books were really written by her -- the named author had quite a different style and was possibly incapable of writing such sustained tomes. I haven't followed the case, but I did think the concerns ironic, in view of the content of the books.Rimihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04344200811838569151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3164556861454970487.post-26041487228779384762011-02-25T19:01:09.595-05:002011-02-25T19:01:09.595-05:00I once read a biography of an American architecht ...I once read a biography of an American architecht from... Florida, I think. I'm no fan of dissecting architecture so I skimmed the book, but it turns out she was a pioneer in designing 'modern' buildings -- like old-age homes -- and indeed designed and oversaw 40% of the public buildings in her area, but there is no mention of her as a successful architect anywhere in the history of American architects, much less as a pioneer of certain forms.<br /><br />On similar veins, a grad student of Politics once pooh-poohed Lady Ada Augusta Lovelace's status as the world's first programmer, saying that programming has go so absolutely further that her efforts really meant very little. <br /><br />After a few minutes the conversation turned to the concept of democratic representation, and he quoted freely from Plato, and enthusiastically spoke of 'the Roman system'. I asked him if he thought classical references were a good model for modern multiethnic democracies, given the Wise Old Men excluded everyone but the rich (sane) men of the city from participating in the process. The man appeared miffed. "Predecessors", he said sententiously, "are never to be dismissed. Had they not laid the founding stones, we would still be barbarians today. The thing may have changed beyond recognition, but the core ideas remain the same".<br /><br />So it's not like women whose acheivements are well-known are immune from being edited out of mainstream history, or having different standards of merit applied to them.<br /><br />I'm also reminded of a Jon Stewart interview with the founder-CEO of Indian MNC Infosys. Stewart disclosed that Thomas Friedman's famous phrase, "a flat world" (from his book "The World is Flat"), was actually coined by his interviewee, Narayan Murthy. He tried to needle Murthy about Friedman 'stealing' his phrase, but Murthy didn't rise to the bait. And even after that much-watched show, the phrase is still attributed to Friedman.<br /><br />It all boils down to believability. In comparison to a Pulitzer-winning American journalist, an 'geeky' tech-company CEO with an Indian accent is simply unbelievable as the coiner of a new catchphrase. And it's the same for any minority group -- not in terms of number but in terms of social power.Rimihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04344200811838569151noreply@blogger.com