Ever Battled With Bright Shiny Object Syndrome? How Did You Overcome It?

It can be argued that Hitler and Stalin are the most studied persons in history. It would be very unfair to historians to say we've heard only a story or two about them.

But you are correct on up to a point: most assessments are gross characterization... but it is the other way around. Usually, most people tend to give the benefit of the doubt and the person's image grows worse as time goes by.

And why not? The defense has a natural advantage:it takes damning evidence to make anything stick and there's no natural incentive to bring down someone. After all, if you say, a professional relationship with someone and you are confronted with a rumour that they are KKK members, it becomes at the very least, very awkward for all involved. If you're invested in the relationship, you would not be inclined to automatically believe it.

This is true in particular for contemporary figures.Only a determined and well motivated entity can bring evidence to the forefront.

It doesn't matter.

You're thinking mainly of a North American context. But care has to be taken, as for all intent and purposes, NA is an impregnable island-fortress. It is also remarkably stable relative to other continents.

As a result, save in very rare cases (like being submerged in a sea of COVID-19), we are shielded from the consequences of our respective govt's actions so we have the luxury to be as critical or gushing as we please. Or as Shakespeare would put it:"The fighting is so fierce because the stakes are so low."

Some stay in a state of blissful ignorance for 50+ years. There are American boomers who probably think Watergate is a Disneyland attraction.

Most nations aren't in this position. In fact, most have been overrun at one point or another.
In which case there are a number of questions that naturally arise when looking at one's past: how do you keep a nation that is much more powerful than your own at bay? If war does come, do you keep on fighting in the hope of a turning point that may never materialize? In particular: if help do materialize, do you close your eyes if it comes from the devil?

And then if victory comes, what do you do with the puppet the invaders have installed? What about your fellow citizens who have helped the enemy? Do you show unearned clemency or do you line up the guilty against a wall and shoot them? What happens if the one who collaborated is your son-in-law? Your friend? Comrade? Lover?

People are not nearly as uncompromising in their beliefs and deadlocked in their peer groups as most on this forum believe. At some point, it just becomes deeply unpractical to be so.

I think (most) learned people with ties to Eurasia ask themselves variants of these questions at least once. I think most will agree to less-than-ideal solutions with much-less-than-perfect individuals.

This very much discourages the taking of "extreme" positions:
you cannot on one hand, pursue a deal with someone and then on the other, say he is a mass murdering cannibal.