Nobody is perfect. In fact, most of us are intensely flawed. As history progresses, it is inevitable that we learn or uncover the negative traits of the people we once considered to be role models. Examples of instances like these are tenfold, from the recent reveal of Mahatma Gandhi's blatant misogyny and history of rape to the discovery of pop icon Michael Jackson's hidden closet of child pornography.
It is incredibly irresponsible for us, the public, to dismiss or attempt to discredit such enormous accusations that might pop up in reference to a figure who was once exalted as perfect or saintly. At the same time, however, it is also irresponsible to attempt to discredit one's positive impacts on society and culture due to this new information.
It is impossible to expect someone, even a person who we are supposed to believe is a hero to be looked up to, to be entirely good, just as it is to assume a person is entirely evil. We, as humans, are not created by a group of Disney writers in a conference room. We are dynamic, complex, and severely imperfect. A person who has done a lot of good deeds has also probably done quite a few evil deeds. A good deed should not cancel out the evil deed, or vice versa. These individual deeds should be viewed as they are: individual.
Let me try to put my point into perspective.
On a small scale, I can use myself as an example. I like to think that I am a good person. I have done a lot of things that I perceive to make the world a better place, from speaking out against social injustice to holding the door open for a stranger. Equally, however, I have done quite a few things that are objectively bad. Yes, I have cheated on a test. Yes, I have manipulated somebody who trusted me in order to further my own agenda.
My impact, both positive and negative, obviously pales in comparison to many of the intense areas of conflict that this post aims to discuss. One lesser known example of the problems with categorizing a person as good or bad takes place in the Progressive Era. Margaret Sanger, a young New York City activist, noticed that much of the poverty that surrounded her was due to the fact that women were forced to give birth to and care for children that they did not want nor could afford to raise. Though many forms of birth control had been invented by this point, the government was careful to censor and hide the fact that it, in fact, was possible for a woman to be sexually active without being forced into poverty by an accidental baby. Sanger set out to change this, by launching a pamphlet called The Woman Rebel that aimed to educate women about forms of contraception. It was Margaret Sanger that coined the term "birth control", founded what is now Planned Parenthood, and made reproductive health information easily accessible to women in low income areas.
You're probably wondering, "Camille, what's your point? Margaret Sanger seems like a helluva gal!" to which you would be correct, she is a helluva gal. She did, however, deliver a speech to the Ku Klux Klan in 1926 to further her quest for accessible birth control. In this speech, she not only did not condemn the KKK's ideology of white superiority, to which her record of activism in non-white communities indicates she would reject, she allegedly spoke in favor of it, mentioning one of the benefits of accessible birth control could be the sterilization of inferior people.
What should be taken away from this? Should society write off everything Sanger has done for women due to her unforgivable speech to the infamous hate group? Or should society ignore her passive attitude towards white supremacy and focus solely on her positive impact?
Neither! We are too quick to jump to black and white answers. Life happens in the middle, in the grey part. Margaret Sanger did some great things and some disgusting things, like everyone who has ever walked this Earth. She is not an angel nor is she a devil. She is human.
Don't be so quick to glorify or demonize a person, public figure or not, due to or in spite of their humanity. It is so tempting to mold people into characters, form history easily digestible plot of good guys versus bad guys. But that's not the world we live in. Our world is gritty and grey. Our heroes, whether we like it or not, are humans too.
Thanks for reading. If you liked this please share it with your friends, if you want!
Keep cool,
Camille
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