Mark Kleiman has a great post regarding the ideal of respect, imparticularly in light of how this Administration defines it. Consider this:
....If you treat others with contempt, you deprive them of the option of respecting you while maintaining their own self-respect. If they're too afraid of you to return your contempt, then hatred is the only remaining option. The lack of respect for the rest of the world that has marked the Bush foreign policy from its inception has left as its legacy the contempt of most of Europe (look how heavy a political burden it is to be a Bush supporter even in the UK) and the hatred of the Muslim world. Sometimes it's necessary to incur the wrath of others; the problem with the current Administration is that they seem to glory in it.
Contempt for others sometimes comes from a lack of real self-respect, from a self-concept so uncertain that it must prove its toughness, assert its masculinity, by "dissing" others. Real self-assurance is generous of spirit.
Amen, Mark! Read the rest of his post, A Decent Respect.
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