I wonder what proportion of bullshit in the world would be removed by the disappearance of the words “respect” and “spirituality”.
When someone demands your respect, it’s like a signal that they don’t deserve it. Instead of demonstrating their value to the rest of the world or being nice to you, they tell you what to think about them and then behave as if to do so is a human right (another problematic concept) of some kind. Respect is in great demand by:
-rappers
-religions
-Aretha Franklin
Aretha stands out here because she wasn’t really demanding the same kind of respect as religions and rappers – she just wanted her man to be as nice to her as she was to him. The other type of respect is more similar to Steven Duch’s concept of Thar, a value system of perpetually inflamed egos:
Extreme importance of personal status and sensitivity to insult
Acceptance of personal revenge including retaliatory killing
Obsessive male dominance
Paranoia over female sexual infidelity
Primacy of family rights over individual rights
Of course, these aren’t explicitly present in the more mundane invocations of respect, but the sentiment is there. The world is full of people who are always on the lookout for opportunities to be offended by something and who demand respect as a shield for their egos. They can’t accept their shortcomings and the uncaring nature of the external world so they spill their emotional panic into the brainspace of others.
Why care so much about what everyone else thinks that you stop thinking for yourself?
Spirituality I don’t really have a lot to say about. It’s just a bullshit word for people who are embarrassed by religion but want some of the same perks. As far as I can see it doesn’t have any independent meaning apart from as a general positive modifier, viz. “I’m a very spiritual person.” Translation: “I’m worth more than other people, I just can’t demonstrate it.”
Maybe I should introduce image tags:
