Clay-Footed Heroes

Objecting to analysis potentially unflattering
betrays not only bias but a knowledge that
every hero is clay-footed.
Every power abuses.
If the truer portrait mixes
good and bad in a balance,
the defence of only the good,
celebration of only the good,
becomes unnecessary, and admiration is not
heavily marred by the acknowledgement
of the less commendable.
Vitriolic refusal to even sanction to inquiry,
to even consider a cult (figure)
as less than exemplary indicates that the
investigation will not reveal spots
where grim disgust is a righteous reaction,
but that deeds deemed heroic are anomalies
against a canvas otherwise despicable.
The more determined the denial
of even the possibility of a less flattering portrait;
the more determined the efforts
to prevent or discredit such a review or re-analysis;
the more single-sided, the more sanitised,
the story spread to the susceptible,
the more likely that the celebrated individual or regime
should be rightly remembered for abuses foul
and atrocities unpardonable
than lauded for a figure-head fame
under any circumstances.