Respect: Earned or deserved?

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For me, my respect scale is just like that in Spore. For me, everyone stars at -30 (I distrust strangers) and when they introduce themselves, it goes up by 10. Being police gets a further 10. And then helping me and showing acts of kindness makes it go up further. Thinking like me will get you +50.

There are 5 basic levels: Hatred (<-69), annoyance(-69 - -30), neutral (-29 - 29), friendly (30 - 69), gracious (>69).

Last edited by KeitaroKun on 11 Aug 2011, 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

^ This exactly ^

That would be respect for (or more accurately, recognition of) another person's fire power rather than respect for the actual person, I would think.

It's not an easy word to define, and it gets abused a lot, so the answers are going to be diverse and woolly.

If it means feeling that the other person is basically "OK," then I'm comfy with a presumption of respect for others unless their behaviour indicates otherwise.

Perhaps some clue about the meaning of respect can be found by studying its opposite, contempt:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contempt

I'm definitely capable of feeling contempt, and the mechanisms described in that article ring true for me, especially the distancing and the way the contempt happens as a result of the other person doing things that offend my sense of right and wrong. If somebody rides roughshod over my values in a significant way, it's very hard for me to see them as OK in any way at all.

It depends how much money they have, how scary they look and how good they look.

In my mind, it must be earnt.

Around 8 years ago, i lived in a caravan park, on benifits, no job prospects, no drive or motivation and really no self respect. I didn't respect myself. So i started to respect success because it became what i wanted.

Now I have had stable work, moved 3 times for work promotions, renting a nice apartment and happy with how far ive come. While most of my extended family have done very little to nothing with theres. My mother and Step father are excluded from this grouping because they to have really done alot to succeed, but the rest of them, not so much.

So why should the criminal side of the family have the same amount of respect as thoses that have worked hard to get where we are?

it has to be earned. no one gets any level of respect when i meet them. they do, however, get courtesy. respect is worth nothing if it is not earned.

Criminal? What did they do?

Is this really that hard to understand?

Respect should always be assumed to be deserved until and unless a person proves they don't deserve it. It's a pretty simple rule that if everyone lived by the whole world would be a better place. If you don't respect me from the get go, assuming I have to prove I deserve it, that's a sign to me that you don't deserve it. So if I were to meet you in person I would probably respect you to begin with, but if you fail to display the same respect, either in return or of your own initiative, I will likewise not respect you.

You get what you give.

Fair enough?

The way I see it, respect is earned. Not everyone deserves it.

I have a bad habit of not respecting people enough. I guess it comes from my superiority complex.

It never ceases to amaze me just how much like my dad I have become.

I respect everyone that I see in the street automatically as I believe that we all should be. I have so much love for human kind it's not even funny I might not be able to connect with them but I love everyone just the same. However, if I'm walking down the street and the first and only time I ever see a person they are throwing stones at cars or something, then they don't get my respect.

I respect everyone to begin with because all are human beings deserving of being treated with dignity.

That being said, a person STARTS with respect, but they can definitely (and certainly do) LOSE respect...in which case they must earn it back with me or else I don't give it to them.

This.