Let’s Not Forget that Nobody’s Perfect By Maria Grant

Saint or sinner? Hero or demon? Perhaps the right answer is neither one. In this modern world, we tend to canonize our idols. It is often seen as inappropriate to talk about their dark or negative side—to look at the whole person objectively. That’s a mistake. Should we applaud their virtues? Absolutely. Should we ignore their shortcomings? I don’t think so.

I’m a huge fan of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. For decades, we have sung both their praises. And rightly so. JFK started the Peace Corps. He brought charisma, elegance, and dignity to the White House. He had a vision for the space program and challenged the nation to reach the moon. He skillfully navigated the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

Martin Luther King energized America into embracing the imperative for racial justice. He was the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He changed the world through peaceful protest. He had a dream. 

The other side of the coin on these two heroes is that JFK was responsible for the Bay of Pigs fiasco. And he was a notorious womanizer with numerous extramarital affairs throughout his political career. King’s constant sexual activities with women he met on the road shocked the FBI which had several tapes of wild and crazy incidents that happened during his travels. 

When he was president, Bill Clinton balanced the budget. He paid off $360 billion in national debt—something literally unheard of in this day and age. And then, of course, there was the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Then there’s Charlie Kirk and the horror of his assassination. There were many good things about Charlie Kirk. He was able to connect with young audiences and turned his organization, Turning Point, into one of the country’s largest political organizations which attracted young people to gatherings at high schools and universities across the country. 

But there was another side to Kirk as well. He criticized civil rights. He was against LGBTQ rights. He talked about the brain capacity of Black women. (Specifically, he said, “If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michele Obama and Sheila Jackson and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks, we would have been called racists. Now they are coming out and saying it for us…You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously. You had to steal a white person’s slot to be taken somewhat seriously.”)  

Kirk called George Floyd a scumbag but said he did not deserve to die. He said some gun deaths in the U.S. may be worth it to ensure Second Amendment rights. He said abortion is murder and should be illegal, including in cases of rape. Just recently he said he hoped marriage would make Taylor Swift more conservative and encouraged her to reject feminism. He recommended that she submit to her husband. “Taylor, he said, “You’re not in charge.” 

The good news is that Kirk welcomed debate and the free exchange of ideas. There is tremendous irony in this when you consider any negative comment made about Kirk since his murder has caused outrage. 

J.D. Vance has proclaimed that any criticism of Kirk should be called out. He encouraged employees to let their employers know so that they could fire employees who had negative things to say about Kirk. (This is particularly ironic when the Commander in Chief regularly calls his opponents “scum.”)

So, let’s be honest. There were many good things about Charlie Kirk. He was a hero to many, but he was not a saint. 

The psychologist Carl Jung claimed that humans have unconscious archetypes. He said that humans love heroes because they overcome challenges and undergo profound transformations for the good of others. 

Other psychologists often opine on heroes. They give us hope. They energize and inspire us. They heal us and impart wisdom.

But there is also a danger in blindly making people heroes. Because no one is perfect, a hero will inevitably disappoint. Uncritical adoration can also cause people to excuse or ignore misbehavior. In political or religious contexts, blind faith can be used to manipulate, causing followers to disregard standards or decency. 

It is a sorry state of affairs when we no longer value objective analyses–recognizing pluses and minuses. 

Here’s what Martin Luther King had to say about hate and objectivity: 

“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true.” 

I long for the day when we seek the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. 

Maria Grant, a former principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm, now focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.