Should we honor heroes who are revealed to have character flaws?

[OlderAndWiser]

George Washington was the Father of our country. He led us to a military victory over what was then the most powerful ,military force in the world. He is responsble for ensuring that our country would froever be ruled by a president and not by a monarch. He owned slaves.

Abraham Lincoln guided our country through the most tumultuous period in our history and he preserved the union upon which our country depends. But, in 1858, during the Lincoln-Douglas debates, he said " I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which, in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position."

John Fitzgerald Kennedy saved our country from nuclear war with the USSR and he gave us a vision for our future. He as also a womanizer of the highest order.

O. J. Simpson won the Heisman trophy while at USC, is the only pro running back to run for 2,000 yards in a 14 game season, and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. He also murdered his ex-wife, though acquited in his criminal trial, was later convicted of armed robbery, and is currently in prison.

Joe Paterno was a well respected and accomplished football coach who led Penn State to numerous winning seasons and two national championships. He also participated in a cover-up of child sexual abuse by a former assistant coach.

Audrey Hepburn was a beautiful actress who had a successful career at an early age and then essentially abandoned her career to devote her life to humanitarian causes. She was also involved in several extramarital affairs throughout her lifetime.

All of these people did things that deserve praise and would entitle them to serve as a role model for young people but they also did things that are worthy of condemnation. Should the recognition for their good deeds be rescinded because of their unrelated misdeeds?

Human nature is such that no person is a paragon of virtue and no person is a total cesspool of immorality. Al Capone donated generously to charities. Serial murderer Ted Bundy once volunteered at a suicide crisis hotline.

I suggest that there are two classes of heroes:

1. Heroes whose faults are known and understood; and

2. Heroes whose faults exist but are unknown for various reasons.

So . . . can't we pay hoomage to the worthy accomplishments of people without idolizing them and suggesting that everything about them is biscuits and gravy? We don't need to take OJ Simpson out of the Football Hall Of Fame and refusing to do that certainly doesn't suggest that we are condoning murder. Honoring George Washington as the Father of our country doesn't mean that we support slavery.

If we can't honor flawed heroes, what heroes can we honor?

[tellmefantasies]

The problem about valourising people is that we when we desire to put someone on a pedestal, we want to treat them as someone invincible, of the best moral character, of being superhuman. Because that way, we can look up at someone and aim to reach high. The moment there's a chip in their image, they're suddenly taken off the pedestal and brought down to your equal height. Or lower. You can see them in the eye, and realise they are just as human and have the capacity to make faults. This somehow makes their good deeds achievable. "C'mon, if he was a murderer/womaniser, I can do better than him cos I ain't that!"

But nobody wants heroes they can stand on equal ground with. They're heroes cos they're supposed be higher up the ladder and you respect them for that. How can you respect someone who has major flaws? That's where history books come in where all these flaws are deleted. Look only at the bright side and make yourself bask in their light. Be shiny shiny.

Part of the problem also lies with the fact that we see the other side as 'negative'. Obama smoked weed, so what? Hepburn had extramarital affairs, so what? It's our refusal to and inability to see what they were going through at the time of their decisions. But as people, we all have our own values and limits. We don't desire what we perceive as undesireable. Hitler's management of power was noteworthy, but his use of power was an abomination. We as a civil society, seek certain traits to preserve ourselves. Whatever causes a flux in that must be treated as violation.

The important thing is we look at things critically and perceive what is right for us and judge for ourselves what our needs our at certain phases in our life. In the end, every sweet has to be taken with a grain of salt. And sometimes, the salt finishes and it's spicy. Eep.

[OlderAndWiser]

Yes, I agree that people who do heroic things are ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Their flawed humanity does not diminish the magnitude of their accomplishments.

[Anonymous]

I think envy is ultimately at the heart of wanting to tear down people who have done great things because they had feet of clay or shared the prejudices and ideas of their time.

Some people just can't stand to see anyone above them.

[Joc4Position]

George I agree with. He wasn't the most moral person. Not just with the whole slaves thing, but I've even heard his personality was shitty too. The only reason why people liked him so much is because he is a war hero and a good leader.

Abe it's funny that he said that about blacks and whites considering he was probably part black himself.

JFK was a womanizer. He also was addicted to cigarettes.

Who in the hell sees OJ as a hero? Can't deny what he did as a football player, but come on.

Joe I'm not so sure about. Sandusky is a piece of shit, but Joe I think the media was way to hard on him and it cost him his job and then his life. Maybe he did cover up some stuff I don't know. If he did shame on him, but the media helped tarnish his legacy more than anything and they may have contributed to killing him considering that football was the one thing that kept him going.

Never heard of Hepburn.

Yeah and Pablo Escobar built schools and helped revive communities.

I think people think heroes are like those you see in movies, TV shows, etc. but they aren't. Even THOSE SUPER heroes have flaws.

Superman trying to fit in with a foreign world.

Batman walking the line between justice and wrong doing.

SpiderMan dealing with being a teenager and the struggles of that.

Etc. etc.

[Chief16]

We always have to look for the good in people or we might as well stop trying to live. When I look at myself closely, I've so many many flaws. Whoever or whatever our heroes were, they were still human. When the world is looking at you, the first thing it will do is judge you not on the basis of how much good you did in life but how many scandals you had, how many bad deeds you committed, how you failed to back what you spoke.
And then, only then will they make your good deeds plausible. The good deeds of these people eclipse the bad. They are worth remembering because even with all those odds against them, they succeeded. And history, if anything, is written by the winners. They will never be forgotten anytime soon because they shaped our world as it is today.

[DaddyRollingStone]

"There are no great men. Just great challenges which ordinary men, out of necessity, are forced by circumstances to meet." - Admiral William Halsey Jr.