Quote:I have no respect for religion, but I am able to respect people that are religious, and that's my whole point
I hate the word "respect", it has too much of a history of the insecure baggage(NO MATTER THE SUBJECT MATTER)"Don't bruise my ego".
"Respect authority" Hitler had authority?
"Respect your parents" Even if they abuse you?
"Respect tradition" Slavery was a tradition?
I use the word VALUE. I value human rights. But the ability to put words in ANY SENTENCE only deserves the value of the ability to make any claim you want. But that does not mean the claim itself should be valued, otherwise the once popular belief that the sun was a god would still be valued. I am glad it is not. I am glad people have stopped valuing that claim.
I value the right to make any claim you want, but without the ability to kick the shit out of any claim, ON ANY SUBJECT, the childish specter of "respect" far to often sets taboos and monopolies of power.
We are all, strictly from a human rights perspective, entitled to our own opinions, but none of us are entitled to our own facts.
One's personal rights will never be my issue. The ability to demonstrate the credibility of any GIVEN claim is my issue. If someone is offended by questioning the first word they childishly throw up is "respect".
No human deserves taboo status, not you, not me, not the Pope, not Romney, not Obama. That is not to say any individual should always be a dick just because they can, just that no human deserves a pedestal.
It depends on context how I interact with people. But to slap "never" as a blanket solution to avoid conflict is childish and dangerous, especially if one is trying to help others out of horrible treatment based on the "respect" that culture may demand. Women in Afghanistan are forced to "respect"men, and western reporters come back constantly and report that their women don't want the west to leave.
That is why I hate the word respect. I value the rights of those women and as such I cannot value the men who force their power over them.
So the bottom line is if you want to claim a label any label, political or religious, I VALUE that strictly from a human rights view. But that does not mean, because I may like you as a person, I am going to like everything you claim.
