What if your greatest heroes were racist or took dubious donations?

[brandondedicant]

That's the question asked by Matt Langdon in a recent post of The Hero Handbook.  If you found out your heroes were crucially flawed, could they still be your heroes?

In our age the hyper-availability of communication and research makes it difficult for anyone in history to come off looking totally saint-like.  Everyone's got dirty secrets.  The question is, how flawed, how human, can a hero be and still be a hero?

Matt provides sources on three of the last century's most cherished heroes:

Let’s look at three of the most famous heroes of the last hundred years.

1. 
   Martin Luther King, Jr. Had numerous mistresses and drank a lot.  Plagiarized in some of his doctorate papers. (source)
2. 
   Mother Teresa. Was hypocritical on divorce.  Fought against women’s rights.  Hid millions of dollars in donations.  Was a fanatic, a fundamentalist, and a fraud. (source)
3. 
   Mohandas Gandhi. Was a sexual weirdo, a political incompetent and a fanatical faddist.  Was often cruel to those around him and racist.  (source)

Oh, and DO actually read the sources before making judgments.  You decide whether the charges are fair or not.  I did not end up agreeing at all with some of Matt's accusations, based on the sources provided.  But I learned a great deal about some of my personal heroes.

The golden ratio of heroism   The Hero Handbook