Scores of people have come upon this earth and have contributed a lot to mankind, and we remember them as heroes or saints. Their simple acts have had profound effects on the way this world lives and breathes. These people are remembered for their good qualities, selfless nature, extraordinary intelligence, problem solving capabilities and what not. But, one question that comes to my mind is that - what will happen if people come to the know that dark side of these people? Would their opinion change? Should their opinion change?
The recent death of Steve Jobs created a wave of sadness in this world. Everyone hailed the great master and innovator of technology. We all know that without him, we wouldn’t have the digital world at our hands. PCs, iPods, smartphones, tablets - he brought a revolution, followed by millions of other similar products, leading to a price war that ultimately lead to affordability for the mass. He brought the technology of the sci-fi to the hands of the common people. Undoubtedly, in the words of Thomas Friedman, he made the world flatter. But, do we know the dark side of his persona. As the stories are revealed, there are many aspects of his personality that completely changes our perspective towards him. For example, he demanded perfection from every one of his employees. If an employee had worked all night and his work was not good, he would just tell him “what the hell did you do. you are useless”. He didn’t value hard work, he valued only innovation and perfection. And he was also notorious for firing employees in the corridor, when everyone was watching, just to humiliate the employee for his bad work. He also minced foul words for Bill Gates, Larry Page only because he did not like their work. He was selfish, and obsessive about only Apple’s progress.
Take another example, of one person that is near God to every Indian - Mahatma Gandhi. He gave us independence, gave us new weapons like Civil Disobedience, Non-Cooperation, and Satyagraha. He was an icon with a frail body but determination that no one could shake. But, he was not a good family-man. As we dig deeper inside the story of his life, we come to know that he was neither a good husband, nor a good father. He never cared for his wife nor his children. He was so preoccupied in the fight for his nation that he never had time for his family. His sons had always said “He was the father of our nation, but he could not be our father. We had to pay the price”. There are also speculations that he had left Kasturba in South Africa to live with Kallenbach, an architect. Gandhi was deeply overtaken by Kallenbach’s personality. There are also some speculations that Gandhi had slept with some of her nieces. Some people has gone so far as to call Gandhi “a very dangerous, semi-repressed sex maniac”.
Should these facts change our perspective towards Steve or Gandhi? Do these facts diminish the fact that they contributed a lot to the society? The answer is: No. These facts do not change what they gave to the world. But when such people are made icons, the negative facts are purposefully ignored or forgotten. And when such facts are revealed, it leads to protests and furor. The reason for this is that there is negativity in everyone. But people see such icons as epitome of goodness. They try to ignore the negativeness in icons because they get inspired from them. If they are told about the dark side of these personalities, they feel they possess some of that dark side too. And people can never accept their dark side. They think that “if these people can be bad, what about us? So, they cannot be bad”. They cannot accept the fact that someone so famous can have a dark side too. It is absolute denial.
And this was the only reason Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” created such a controversy, because he tried to expose some facts which tarnished the image of Jesus. Great writers, poets, novelists write for one reason - to inspire people to do good from the good of other people. But there are other writers too - who are interested in telling people the dark side also. It is up to us to know both the sides, and follow the good side. The dark side of these personalities simply tells us one thing - there is good and bad everywhere. But what made the people famous and iconic is not the bad thing, but the good thing. And the good things were enough to shadow the bad things into a little corner which everyone ignores. Embrace the truth, and follow the good. That way, everyone will be happy and aware.
The recent death of Steve Jobs created a wave of sadness in this world. Everyone hailed the great master and innovator of technology. We all know that without him, we wouldn’t have the digital world at our hands. PCs, iPods, smartphones, tablets - he brought a revolution, followed by millions of other similar products, leading to a price war that ultimately lead to affordability for the mass. He brought the technology of the sci-fi to the hands of the common people. Undoubtedly, in the words of Thomas Friedman, he made the world flatter. But, do we know the dark side of his persona. As the stories are revealed, there are many aspects of his personality that completely changes our perspective towards him. For example, he demanded perfection from every one of his employees. If an employee had worked all night and his work was not good, he would just tell him “what the hell did you do. you are useless”. He didn’t value hard work, he valued only innovation and perfection. And he was also notorious for firing employees in the corridor, when everyone was watching, just to humiliate the employee for his bad work. He also minced foul words for Bill Gates, Larry Page only because he did not like their work. He was selfish, and obsessive about only Apple’s progress.
Take another example, of one person that is near God to every Indian - Mahatma Gandhi. He gave us independence, gave us new weapons like Civil Disobedience, Non-Cooperation, and Satyagraha. He was an icon with a frail body but determination that no one could shake. But, he was not a good family-man. As we dig deeper inside the story of his life, we come to know that he was neither a good husband, nor a good father. He never cared for his wife nor his children. He was so preoccupied in the fight for his nation that he never had time for his family. His sons had always said “He was the father of our nation, but he could not be our father. We had to pay the price”. There are also speculations that he had left Kasturba in South Africa to live with Kallenbach, an architect. Gandhi was deeply overtaken by Kallenbach’s personality. There are also some speculations that Gandhi had slept with some of her nieces. Some people has gone so far as to call Gandhi “a very dangerous, semi-repressed sex maniac”.
Should these facts change our perspective towards Steve or Gandhi? Do these facts diminish the fact that they contributed a lot to the society? The answer is: No. These facts do not change what they gave to the world. But when such people are made icons, the negative facts are purposefully ignored or forgotten. And when such facts are revealed, it leads to protests and furor. The reason for this is that there is negativity in everyone. But people see such icons as epitome of goodness. They try to ignore the negativeness in icons because they get inspired from them. If they are told about the dark side of these personalities, they feel they possess some of that dark side too. And people can never accept their dark side. They think that “if these people can be bad, what about us? So, they cannot be bad”. They cannot accept the fact that someone so famous can have a dark side too. It is absolute denial.
And this was the only reason Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” created such a controversy, because he tried to expose some facts which tarnished the image of Jesus. Great writers, poets, novelists write for one reason - to inspire people to do good from the good of other people. But there are other writers too - who are interested in telling people the dark side also. It is up to us to know both the sides, and follow the good side. The dark side of these personalities simply tells us one thing - there is good and bad everywhere. But what made the people famous and iconic is not the bad thing, but the good thing. And the good things were enough to shadow the bad things into a little corner which everyone ignores. Embrace the truth, and follow the good. That way, everyone will be happy and aware.
