Respect. What does this mean? According to Webster's Dictionary to have respect means to show willingness to show consideration or appreciation. However there is also the showing of common courtesy of another's thoughts, ideas, or feelings that also tie into Respect. More and more do I see the gradual drifting away from this ideaology. Not just online but in every day life.
I am not calling for a return to the victorian age where gentlemen called each other out with a slap of a glove and things were resolved in a 'gentlemanly' manner. Nor am I calling for even a return to the wild west (for those United States readers) where men were rough and rugged, but still showed respect for women folk.
However it would be nice not to be going a long in life and every single day view someone showing a considerable lack of respect for just fellow human beings. One does not ahve to agree, or even like another person to show that person respect. I get told so many times "Respect is earned", and yes I agree with that to a point. One does not just go into a new place and expect to be held in the same esteem as older members who have proved their worthiness of esteem, but that does not mean that one should not expect the common courtesy.
An example of not respecting ideas and opinions, even when one disagrees with said ideas and opinions, I see many people fuss and complain about narrow minded individuals. They complain that homophobic people are just horrible people, and that they are simply discriminating against homosexual people. Well this is true, and if it was simply a complaint about them then I would be the first to back them up. However so many times, in real life, in blogs, in rants on any forum, things degenerate into name calling and rudeness.
We look back in history and sneer at those people who ridiculed Galileo and even Darwin. Those who claimed the earth was not the center of the universe, or that man came from evolution rather then poofing on earth mysteriously were once called 'Idiots', 'Nuts', 'loons" and worse, yet now it is those who were doing the name calling that are sneered at.
Don't get me wrong, I am not comparing homophobic individuals with great thinkers of the past. But notice I am not reducing them to mere morons who do not deserve the right to foster their own opinions either. This can be said with anyone, of any walk of life. It is an interesting development, in my opinion, that those who sneer at those who hold an unpopular opinion are the same that worry about thought-police and freedom of expression. Causing fear of being ridiculed and personally attacked is one of the most effective form of thought-policing that I can think of.