Gandhi Was an Asshole (and I’ll Tell You Why)

Gandhi was an asshole.

And I’ll tell you why.

Because every time someone says his name, they make him sound like a saint.

Like this perfect little man who floated around preaching peace and starving himself for justice.

But here’s the truth — Gandhi was human.

And humans are messy.

He had an ego. He had blind spots. He said some dumb shit and did some worse shit.

And yet we talk about him like he was a god.

That’s what bothers me.

Not Gandhi the man — Gandhi the myth.

We turned him into this moral yardstick for everyone else.

“Oh, what would Gandhi do?”

Probably judge you for eating a cheeseburger, that’s what.

The problem with worshipping people is you stop learning from them.

You start quoting them instead of questioning them.

And Gandhi, for all his wisdom, was not someone you should stop questioning.

He preached non-violence but sometimes used shame like a weapon.

He stood for equality but had views that would make your stomach turn today.

He inspired millions but also left wreckage in his wake — that’s what power does, even the peaceful kind.

And yet, somehow, admitting that makes me the asshole.

Like we can’t handle the idea that our heroes are flawed.

That sometimes the man who told the world to “be the change” still had a lot of changing to do himself.

Here’s the thing:

I’m not tearing him down.

I’m just refusing to pretend.

Because real growth — the kind Gandhi talked about — doesn’t come from pretending someone was perfect.

It comes from seeing the cracks and learning from them.

So yeah, Gandhi was an asshole.

A brilliant, driven, complicated asshole.

And maybe that’s exactly what it takes to change the world.