The issue is anachronistic criticism, such that a long ago era is evaluated by 21st century standards, woke standards in particular. It is not a new problem for History, which has been crippled by it at least since the 1970s New Left takeover of the universities,
I think of it in terms of someone at the seventy yard line criticizing the guys who fought it out at the thirty yard line to get the ball to where it is now.