From respectisthehub @ earthfamilyalphaThe title is somewhat clunky, RESPECTISM AND HUMAN SURVIVAL, but the sentiments are worth a broad discussion.
We talk about decreasing war and crime, pollution and discrimination, starvation and the nuclear brink,but if we do not recognize that we are the source of our problems and change our ways, we will meet disaster.
We need an agreement between people who believe in human rights and the fragility of our planet's thin halo of life, that a respectful society is a pragmatic necessity for human survival. Some might choose to call belief in this necessity respectism. Once this initial consensus is achieved, there are at least three steps to take towards building a respectful society.
First, respect for others, self and place must be universally promoted. In other words, respect must be widely and constantly advertised urging each person to respect others, themselves and the world around us, and to fully expect the same from all institutions and leadership.
Second, respect must be based on listening dialogue, honest negotiation, fair settlement and the avoidance of violence whenever possible to settle differences. While every individual and society has the right to true self-defense, the success of a respectful society will ultimately be measured in the scarcity of all types of violence
Third, it is essential to keep the disrespectful from having power over others. Throughout history, certain types of people have siezed power for their own cruel self-gain using violence, lies, fear and subversion of ideals. We must break this cycle, by educating the public to recognize such persons and work together to remove or isolate them from power, be it big or small.
If you think these ideas too simplistic or too idealistic, please ask yourself these questions. Is it better to treat one disease or countless symptoms? Can a promotional campaign succeed with simple messages that resonate? Can we survive without changing our behavior?
If you believe this proposal to be worthy of sharing, please feel free to distribute this text. Ultimately, a respectful society will depend on having enough people working together to build a web of respect. Discussion among those seeking to be respectful is the first step.
From respectisthehub @ earthfamilyalphaThe title is somewhat clunky, RESPECTISM AND HUMAN SURVIVAL, but the sentiments are worth a broad discussion.
3 comments:
I think it's an admirable goal to strive for more respect in human society. However, I think it is, unfortunately, unlikely to be adopted by all. There will always be those who wish to take advantage of others, which, of course, means disrespecting them. How does one change the behavior of those who see nothing wrong with their bad behavior?
Dear katecontinued:
Thanks so much for guest posting this on your blog. Sorry to be so late in arrival for discussion, but life has intervened.
In response to Chile, I'm not advocating that everyone adopt a "respectist" attitude, just enough of Margaret Mead's "small group of concerned citizens" to get things rolling.
I also think that the behavior of the most abusive persons, whether they're terrorizing a country or a family, is fairly intractable. Our challenge is not to change them, but to better recognize their universal features and separate them from power.
But first, we have to name the problem.
In other words, where would the environmental movement be without words such as "environment" or "green."
Here are two posts that might be less clunky.
http://earthfamilyalpha.blogspot.com/2008/11/respectism-and-ak-47.html
http://earthfamilyalpha.blogspot.com/2006/03/respect-others-self-place_19.html
Thanks so much again to both of you
Respectisthehub, I am a fan of your writing - well all of earthfamilyalpha - as anyone following make-a-(green)plan knows. I appreciate you repeating the thrust of your post - separating the disrespectful (the haters, et al) from power. With fear and hate being the climate engendered by the Corporate control of the press, respect is something I must constantly try to remind myself. The easy path is returning the same hateful energy and then we are all swimming in it. Thanks again and I will turn to the links.
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