>This is a bit ironic, no? He's amalgamating aspects of different cultures into a generalized descriptor of a culture that's still being referenced decades later.

It's not the amalgamations, it's that that is the end of it.

To create an illustrator straw man

They say: All knowledge is already written and we just need to recombine it in new ways.

You say: Ah but here is a criticism of that, using new or different sources

They say: Those don't count we know all we need to know, everything know is already written.