A friend and I broached a shared subject lately. I adore people that make me think and they don't always have to agree with me but on this subject she and I agreed.

The gist of the conversation is how we are ourselves torn on debating the acceptance of those that are genius in some form but from a society of a less than acceptable to us vision. I'm probably not explaining this well so I'll use an example.

Dr Von Braun and the Nazi scientists that were brought to the US to be the base of our own space exploration beginnings are a big one. To what extent they may or may not have known the details of what was actually going on in Hitler's regime in regard to the jews or were they too much in their own heads and focused on their craft of rocketry. And the US in overlooking any possible connections to the horrors of WWII to bring them here and use their skills. I find it fascinating the human ability to compartmentalize these things.

Another example would be Jefferson. His brilliance when it came to writing and talking of liberty, etc while he had a relationship with Hemmings and never connected the two.

I swear if I ever met one of these revered folks, I don't know if I'd begin to inundate them with questions as to how they mentally separate the two sides or if I'd be so torn myself that I'd have to walk away shaking my head.

Anyone else think of these things?