Needless to say, the following is just my own personal opinion.
For me "respect" is a single word used for two different forms of respect, meaning it can sometimes be very hard to differentiate, conflating the two being almost inevitable at times.
Respect is often used in the sense of respecting a person's basic human rights. To me this is immutable, though occasionally takes considerable effort of will to uphold; but if you do not then you are lost, especially to yourself. This in no way impedes, nor should impede, (very!) robust, hard hitting debate as and when needed. It took me a little while to decide whether to join PR (having seen other material regarding "activists"), because I was concerned respect for basic human rights might not be upheld, but to date, although occasionally the line seems to be closely approached, everyone's posts here seem to always stay the right side of the line.
I have come to the conclusion that it is this fundamental, human rights kind of respect that the PACE trial authors, and the BSP school etc, have not shown to ME sufferers, and continue not to. I could elaborate at length here, but I suspect is unnecessary
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The other common form of respect, is respecting someone for their behaviour, their application of their beliefs onto others. For me this this kind of respect is most definitely earned. I reserve the right to apportion this kind of respect as I see fit (indeed I see it as basic human right for anyone), provided that does not manifest itself in ways that infringe the basic human rights of others.
Conflating the two is all too easy. For instance someone has a basic human right to their own beliefs, and that basic right should be respected. But that is not the same as having to respect what that belief stands for. So for example: I respect SW's right to hold his belief (I have to, else I am no better than him), but I have absolutely no respect for what that belief stands for, nor its manifestation; it disgusts me.
We have to distinguish between respecting someone's basic right to hold a belief, versus respecting what that belief stands for - very different things.
It is not uncommon for someone to accuse another of abusing their right to hold their own beliefs, when in fact they are really being chastised for trying to foist those beliefs and consequences onto others.
For me "respect" is a single word used for two different forms of respect, meaning it can sometimes be very hard to differentiate, conflating the two being almost inevitable at times.
Respect is often used in the sense of respecting a person's basic human rights. To me this is immutable, though occasionally takes considerable effort of will to uphold; but if you do not then you are lost, especially to yourself. This in no way impedes, nor should impede, (very!) robust, hard hitting debate as and when needed. It took me a little while to decide whether to join PR (having seen other material regarding "activists"), because I was concerned respect for basic human rights might not be upheld, but to date, although occasionally the line seems to be closely approached, everyone's posts here seem to always stay the right side of the line.
I have come to the conclusion that it is this fundamental, human rights kind of respect that the PACE trial authors, and the BSP school etc, have not shown to ME sufferers, and continue not to. I could elaborate at length here, but I suspect is unnecessary
.The other common form of respect, is respecting someone for their behaviour, their application of their beliefs onto others. For me this this kind of respect is most definitely earned. I reserve the right to apportion this kind of respect as I see fit (indeed I see it as basic human right for anyone), provided that does not manifest itself in ways that infringe the basic human rights of others.
Conflating the two is all too easy. For instance someone has a basic human right to their own beliefs, and that basic right should be respected. But that is not the same as having to respect what that belief stands for. So for example: I respect SW's right to hold his belief (I have to, else I am no better than him), but I have absolutely no respect for what that belief stands for, nor its manifestation; it disgusts me.
We have to distinguish between respecting someone's basic right to hold a belief, versus respecting what that belief stands for - very different things.
It is not uncommon for someone to accuse another of abusing their right to hold their own beliefs, when in fact they are really being chastised for trying to foist those beliefs and consequences onto others.
