It's a great question.
My father once had great advice. He said that it's not good to put people on pedestals because eventually everyone needs to pee.
It's sound advice in this case. It's important that we understand our own faults and it's important that we understand the faults of our allies. That's part of what it means to be able to have honest conversation. Looking at uncomfortable facts and being able to deliberate them in ways that don't leave us in fear of uncertainty of.... What if people can't handle the truth?
When we can stare at the uncomfortable facts, warts and all, then we're always in a better position to manage threats more strategically. That means we need a vote of confidence to be able to talk about those things, and amplify and elevate honest and hard conversation.
It's really ironic. People are so worried about what happens if we know the truth about what's happening and maybe our allies aren't as good as we are—