It's good to have people to look up to for various reasons, but important too to remember that they were just ordinary humans too. That's what the GOOD detractors do: make you see the legendary figures as real people. :)
Thank you Ozone for putting far more clearly than I could have.
I don't tear apart historical people when I teach, only make them human so the student can identify with them and want to learn about history because it's a story of real people doing things and they're just like us and doubt and fear and are happy and sad just like us. (One favorite quote about George Washington's dispatches in the AWI: "The Man could depress a hyena")
Ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Some were talented and insightful but they were still ordinary with the same feelings as any of us.
Temujin, the Genghis Khan was a fascinating person. He set his goals and achieved them. He was also a keen judge of character and by some accounts; modest. He was no megalomaniac and his use of terror was calculated to avoid destruction not wantonly cause it. Separating the mythology from what really happened. :)
And my comic dropped 200 more places. 66 pages of worthless pixels. :(