Idols of peace
—or pieces of shit?

An investigation of Gandhi and other icons with allegedly messy pasts

By Jessica Berget, Editor-in-Chief and Janis McMath, Assistant Editor

Ba we dive into this piece, we want

to state the disclaimer that we do not
intend to say that controversial figures with
alleged problematic pasts should be totally
discounted and ignored because of their
faults.

With this piece, our main intent is to
highlight that figures that many idolize are
also human, and flawed—and we want to
highlight that any claim that they are perfect
or worthy of a reputation that implies as such
should be refuted.

Whenever any of us plan to identify
ourselves with and praise figures, we must

ensure that we acknowledge their short-
comings too— otherwise we represent them
incorrectly. Our icons can be flawed, but

we cannot ignore those flaws. Ignoring our
idol’s shortcomings while simultaneously
praising them is to normalize, accept, and to
some extent, align ourselves with that bad
behaviour.

So just in time for Gandhi's birthday on
October 2, here are a few people associated
to freedom, peace, and liberation that have
allegations of terrible actions pit against
them.