All Your Heroes Are Dead

"Man, in his arrogance, thinks himself a great work. Worthy of the interposition of a deity..."

Darwin wrote in his notebook in the decades prior before he would publish The Origin of Species, this simple observation would have profound ramifications on how we view ourselves and our place in the world. Its contribution to a much larger body of work would not only influence science, but also challenge strongly held religious beliefs.

We are a complex and often at times contradictory species; intelligent but foolhardy, stoic but brash, empathetic but self-centred, graceful yet clumsy. So why is it that we feel a compulsion to elevate certain people to an almost saint-like status? Why is it that we feel threatened when the image of said people is challenged by a harsh truth? Why can't we weigh the virtues and vices of great people in the cold light of day like we would anyone else? They are, after all, human in their appetites. Winston Churchill is a good example, especially in my country. A man who no doubt lead Britain through one of the darkest periods in human history against one of the most monstrous people ever known. But then it might make you a bit squeamish to know Churchill wasn't exactly a polar opposite to Hitler and was a bit closer to him than anyone may have liked. "The Aryan stock is bound to triumph."Now when you hear that word Aryan, who springs to mind? White supremacists, Neo-Nazis, Hitler, right? But it was Churchill who said it. Churchill also spoke poorly of the indigenous peoples of North America and Australia saying, "I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."

Views that certainly wouldn't fly in today's politics... But Churchill was also very fluid, often swaying from conservative to liberal during his career and while he may have had a few similarities with Hitler (they were both imperialists) they were still wholly different. Churchill saw white protestants at the top of the food chain and it was their duty to rule, not slaughter, "lesser races." We can argue on whether Churchill was a racist or not until we're all blue in the face but I think my point stands; he was complex, flawed, brilliant and, at times, unworthy of the pedestal that we've placed him on. Churchill is not alone in that regard. One of my own personal heroes, Martin Luther King Jr., someone whose words have taught me to be kind and gentle yet uncompromising in seeking what's right, was in favour of gay conversion therapy, something that I find abhorrent. Perhaps he may have changed his stance on the matter if he had lived but that's neither here nor there. Another hero of mine, comedian Bill Hicks, whose life I saw fit to turn into a screenplay last year, whose jokes and opinions still make me laugh and have influenced the way I think critically wasn't always someone I agreed with. His, shall we say, copious use of the word "faggot" still makes me cringe.

History is rarely, if ever, painted in black and white. Often it is in swathes of dull grey. We can't look at history through the rosy lens of feature length movies who often swap around or just straight up invent facts for dramatic purposes anyway. Gandhi slept naked next to underage girls to prove his dedication to celibacy, Steve Jobs stiffed his daughter out of child support despite earning millions, John Lennon was a wife beater, Mother Teresa placed the sick and dying in squalid conditions, NSA activities and drone strikes ramped up under Obama's tenure as president. We don't get to put ourselves in a more palatable perspective just to make ourselves feel good. History doesn't work that way. Life doesn't work that way.

It's not all doom and gloom. There is an upside. There are wonderful people out there. We are an adaptable species capable of making astounding leaps in technology and culture, so much so that we may look entirely different in the span of a few generations from now. They will save the planet and explore the stars. They will be far more considerate and will preserve the majesty and strength of the human spirit. Much like building muscle, we reject and tear down what makes us weak and strive to be much, much stronger. We've never been great. Mankind is a work in progress. We're good and we're getting better. We're learning to treat each other in a more compassionate way, to improve the quality as well as the longevity of life and it's inspiring to see.

I grant you that if a historical figure or a celebrity has given you strength through their stirring words or great deeds then I wouldn't be so quick to write them off. Just take them as a package (take the good but remember the bad) rather than turning them into paragons of morality and setting ourselves up for disappointment when the truth is revealed to us. The whole point of this piece isn't to detract from their accomplishments but to ask that we look at them in a reasonable, critical way. Seeing history as we would like to see it rather than how it actually was is a fool's errand anyway. As the saying goes, if we cannot learn from history then we are bound to repeat it. Once you accept the flaws of the people you admire, you're able to take those imperfections on board and learn from them, in doing so, moving out from under their shadow, becoming a better version of them and all the richer for it.

"... More humble, and perhaps truer, to consider him created from animals."

Sources:

https://winstonchurchill.org/publications/finest-hour/finest-hour-159/wsc-a-midnight-interview-1902/

https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2002/nov/28/features11.g21

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/the-interviews-blog/gandhi-was-obsessed-with-sex-while-preaching-celibacy-to-others-kusoom-vadgama/

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/16/what-did-mlk-think-about-gay-people/

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/did-you-know-that-steve-jobs-paid-385-in-child-support-for-daughter-lisa/articleshow/65394755.cms

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/27/world/asia/mother-teresa-critic.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4713954/Dad-was-a-hypocrite.-He-could-talk-about-peace-and-love-to-the-world-but-he-could-never-show-it-to-his-wife-and-son.html

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2017-01-17/obamas-covert-drone-war-in-numbers-ten-times-more-strikes-than-bush