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idolatry

jorgecanta47

Senior Member
Spain, native of Spanish
hello!
I have just found an already solved GRE exercise but I do not get the meaning of the second part of the paragraph related to the first part.

The president's secretary and his chief aide adored him, and both wrote obsessively devoted personal memoirs about him; unfortunately, however, "idolatry" does not make for true intimacy.

I know the meaning of idolatry(excessive devotion to something) but I do not understand what the word "idolatry" has to do with intimacy. Altough I understand the meaning of the paragraph until "...memoirs about him", I do not understand the meaning of the second part from the word "unfortunately,..."

Could anybody help me to understand the whole meaning of the paragraph?

Thank you very much.
hello!
I have just found an already solved GRE exercise but I do not get the meaning of the second part of the paragraph related to the first part.

The president's secretary and his chief aide adored him, and both wrote obsessively devoted personal memoirs about him; unfortunately, however, "idolatry" does not make for true intimacy.

I know the meaning of idolatry(excessive devotion to something) but I do not understand what the word "idolatry" has to do with intimacy. Altough I understand the meaning of the paragraph until "...memoirs about him", I do not understand the meaning of the second part from the word "unfortunately,..."

Could anybody help me to understand the whole meaning of the paragraph?

Thank you very much.

The suggestion is that those two people adored their chief, but that adoration on the part of a junior is not a good basis for intimacy (true friendship, I think, nothing sexual implied). It's hard to be on normal friendly terms with someone who idolizes you.
The way I see it 👁 Smile :)


Idolatry does not make for true intimacy = devotion cannot replace intimacy

Even if they were obsessed with him and adored him, that doesn't mean that they were really very close, and their notes about the president can't give us very personal/intimate information.
(It can also mean that they might be less than accurate in certain points)
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