Lionizing

Since Bhutto's assassination, I've been seeing the lionization of Bhutto. She is being portrayed as the brave, self-sacrificing defender of Pakistan who died fighting for democracy and the poor.

Why can't she be remembered as she really was?

She did some good and she did some bad. You can admire her for her achievements as a woman in a Muslim country. But you shouldn't just ignore or brush away the stench of corruption that enveloped her during both runs as the Prime Minister.

Lionizing distorts truth.

In the US, we have lionized JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King. We turn them into saints and use them as such in debates.

There is no denying JFK and MLK did great things during their all-to-short lives, but we shouldn't put them on some great pedestal and pretend they were something other than just people.

I don't need to pretend that those I admire were faultless demigods. I don't need to put them at a level above humanity to appreciate what they have done. I think doing so cheapens them and and their legacy.