Figure of Speech
When a person overly idealizes someone (or something, an object or idea), it is often referred to as "putting them on a pedestal".
The pejorative phrase "put on a pedestal" is often used to critique celebrity culture, an elected official or position of authority, about someone who is looked up to, held in high regard or revered. To an extent that an accusation or crime may have been overlooked or disregarded, when an investigation or criminal prosecution was later found necessary, because an abuse of position or social standing was committed.
Read more about this topic: Pedestal
Famous quotes containing the words figure of, figure and/or speech:
“The figure of the enthusiast who has just discovered jogging or a new way to fix tofu can be said to stand or, more accurately, to tremble on the threshold of conversion, as the representative American.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“I guess you know, Bob, that if I see you again, I’m just going to start shooting and figure it’s self-defense.”
—David Webb Peoples, screenwriter. Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman)
“Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It is to bring another out of his bad sense into your good sense.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)