As folks who read ~BooksAndArticles know, I'm a big science fiction and fantasy fan. And the SF/F world is currently being rocked by the revelations that Neil Gaiman -- about as big a name in genre fic as you get outside of George RR Martin, and also someone who's built a rep as being very nice and empathetic towards people -- is a serial predator.
I won't dive further down that story (but there's a thorough roundup of info online), but rather link to John Scalzi's piece on why you shouldn't idolize anyone. Scalzi's also a huge name with a long online presence, and this long essay gets into a lot of his personal flaws in a way that had to be incredibly painful. His larger point, though, is that when you place people -- even genuinely "good" people (however you define that) -- on pedestals, you're setting yourself up for disappointment.
The entire piece is one I'm bookmarking, something I rarely do (even with essays I love) anymore these days.
Two paragraphs from the middle of the piece:
Every person you’ve ever admired has fucked up, sometimes really badly. Everyone you’ve ever looked up to has secrets, and it’s possible some of those secrets would materially change how you think about them, not always for the better. Everyone you’ve ever known has things about them you don’t know, many of which aren’t even secrets, they’re just things you don’t engage with in your day-to-day experience of them. Nevertheless it’s possible if you were aware of them, it would change how you feel about them, for better or for worse. And now let’s flip that around! You have things about you that even your best friends don’t know, and might be surprised to learn! You have secrets you don’t wish to share with the class! You have fucked up, and lied, and have been a hypocrite too!You are, in short, a human, as is everyone you know and every one you will know (pets and gregarious wild animals excepted). And all humans are, charitably, a mess. This doesn’t mean there aren’t good people or even exemplary people out there, since there are, along with the ones that are, charitably, a real shit show. What I am saying is that even the good or exemplary people out there are a mess, have been morally compromised at some point in their lives, and have not lived up to their own standards for themselves, independent of anyone else’s standard for them.
But it's really worth reading the whole piece, and taking into account not just with genre authors, but in any field (like your favorite Bitcoiners, even). Treat people like people, not as perfect objects on pedestals.