'Do not take financial advice from someone going through a financial crisis themselves'. Well it's a popular advice that we've become accustomed, to always look at the personality behind the scenes before we provide a listening ear, or take advice. I've often felt that this opinion should largely hold, but there should be exceptions based on the evidence on ground and the depth of experience. There's always something to take home after all, and perhaps experience trumps competence in the teaching of some lessons.
In today's World there's little attention even payed to competence on the socio-cultural and political front as far as opinions go. When you can't to pick holes in an argument, simply going after the persons charcater will likely convince people to your corner. This is of course disregarding your own character flaws and discrediting what has been accomplished. The issue continues to fester, and perhaps we should be wiser. Of course that doesn't mean charcater isn't important, but the deliberate assassination of ones character to downplay the message being passed across should be called out for what it is.
There is simply no perfect person, only those who go through great lengths in hiding their flaws. A saint in one generation or society might be demonized in another. Such has been the way the World has worked so expecting something different now is a bit of a long shot. Technology and the rise of individualism has made it a lot easier to claim sainthood and attack even the most competent of individuals over disagreements in their opinions. The danger of this trend is that it may force the truly competent individuals to keep quiet over fears of being attacked by random, mostly faceless individuals who have no better solution to offer.
There are always lessons to be learned from anyone. But in finance there's a reason why successful people largely come together to form tribes and do business with one another. There's a reason why the best professionals (soldiers, nurses, financial analysts, pilots etcetera) are hired first and given the most technical roles. We certainly can use the voices bestowed upon us by culture and technology to better encourage more competent role models. At the very least, I will at least give those who have dared to accomplish great things the benefit of doubt before simply letting my alter ego write them off.