I quit my Sherlock Holmes reread when the racism got to be too much (it was getting pretty repetitive by that point, too) but 1 thing that struck me was the constant emphasis on individuals who are the ONLY ONES IN THE WORLD who can deal with whatever
Obviously this is often Sherlock, but not always, and anyway it's a really irritating example of the continuing emphasis on a single person being the only possible way to solve a problem, an excuse for that person to martyr themself or otherwise demonstrate unhealthy feats (eg
not sleeping, not eating, working non-stop, etc). narratively it's a lazy sort of stakes-building, but through #NarrativeDisorder it translates into real-world thinking way too often, and it's a problem.
relatedly, look at this reasoning. Yes, it's a narrative that aims to be dramatic & obvs ACD had to keep finding ways to raise stakes
but people seriously read this & thought, oh yes, there are men out there who might ill-advisedly snark and THAT'S A REASON TO GO TO WAR???????

it literally says "the lives of a hundred thousand men" because some guy lost his temper on paper and it, I dunno, was insulting to....a country??
Again, fiction, yes. but the fact that he could write that with a straight face tells you a lot about nationalist propaganda.
Again, fiction, yes. but the fact that he could write that with a straight face tells you a lot about nationalist propaganda.
(probably a trick tho)
on the other hand in all the talk about deduction and logic we forget that ACD/Sherlock put a lot of emphasis on the role of the imagination:
just in case you missed my first reaction to the reread https://twitter.com/m_older/status/1348956935551377408?s=20