We seem to be devaluing the importance of dignity and respect—two different concepts that are intrinsically connected.
Oxford Dictionary defines respect as the “due regard for the feelings, wishes or rights of others. It defines dignity as the quality or state of being worthy, honoured or respected.
Note a few points here.
“Due regard” does not say that respect demands that you always, in all circumstances that you agree with the feelings, rights or wishes of others. Instead, “due” implies that, where warranted, we should regard someone’s or something’s feelings, wishes or rights.
There is a difference, too, between perceived rights and actual rights. Does the right to carry guns apply to every nation, or is it an artificial grant of permission mostly held in the US? Do we have the right to disturb others, encroach on them or harm them, or is it a right to be free from those affronts? Note that the US did not begin with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It added the artificial and arbitrary “right” to bear arms later.
Dignity—the quality of being worthy—certainly would not apply to the rigorous requirements to join Hells Angels, since there is little that most of us see as worthy about a gang such as this group is. However, one of the demands that gang members place on others is that they be shown respect, but they could hardly be viewed as dignified, and their ideas of respect are not the same as most of us.
Still, in pure moral form, respect may be the most appropriate word to encapsulate the process by which most of our social, economic and environmental problems may be resolved.
Respect the environment? There is a large part of the population that denies that climate change is man-made. By denying, they also give themselves permission to do nothing about the issues that are in front of us, and man’s ability to solve them. US and Canada worked together to reduce acid rain in the Great Lakes region, a man-made problem. The world cooperated to reduce chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere and heal the damage to the ozone layer, again a man-made problem. So man can help heal the environment.
But even if we do not think that there is a permanent risk of damage, why do we not respect our world enough to tackle obvious problems. Huge garbage dumps, smog, polluted rivers from mining and a host of other issue are obvious. We would not think of throwing our trash in the neighbour’s yard, because we respect our neighbour. But we are all neighbours. Why are we willing to dump our trash anywhere we want to discard it, burn so much fossil fuels that our cities become clogged with smoke and fog or create mountains of waste plastic because we buy disposable trinkets? Because we do not see the whole world as being worthy to be called our neighbour and do not respect those that we do not know directly.
Our economy is not just run by a very small percent of the population (ultra rich, ultrapowerful corporations, unscrupulous politicians), but it is run with only the wants and wishes of that small handful of people being important. They have no respect for the rest of us, see us as not being worthy.
Perhaps the most corrosive effect of as lack of respect shows in our social strata and perceptions. Racism and prejudice are the hallmarks of lack of respect for the dignity of others.
It is true that we are not born blind like many animals, but we are born colour-blind, yet discrimination based on skin colour is strong in most western countries. Perhaps surprisingly, the most racist country in terms of colour in the job market is not the US, but Belgium and France, followed by Sweden https://sociologicalscience.com/download/vol-6/june/SocSci_v6_467to496.pdf. The Us, while ranking high in job discrimination against Blacks, was not significantly different from Canada (which ranks comparatively low) on the same scale for the Asian population.
Trump’s recent decision to eliminate all Diversity, Equality and Inclusivity programs certainly impacts on other groups experiencing bias, including sexual orientation and gender. The executive order does not show respect for the wishes of others and cannot be justified by saying that “they are not worthy.” The need to be valued on a variety of factors is important to all of us, and the choice to show no respect and allow for the dignity of the individual is, in part, a clear demonstration of a lack of understanding, if not empathy and compassion.
In Canada, we are not immune to the racism, bias and divisiveness.
If, however, we who want to show respect to others, rush to judge the ones that want to withhold respect or supress the dignity of others, we are joining these holdouts as being disrespectful of others.
There are many reasons why some are resistant to racial, socioeconomic, religious and orientation differences in our neighbours. Much is driven by fear, most by lack of knowledge.
Early man, and most animals feared fire. Until mankind learned more about science, we feared eclipses, pestilence, thunder and lightning, the dark and a host of other very explainable events and things. Man made up stories to explain away these occurrences, generally attributing a supernatural god with causation.
Why do people believe a politician who clearly has a propensity to lie? Because it is an easy explanation for something we do not fully understand, or it fits the narrative that we want. But once we are able to discern fact, we are less influenced by fiction, hate, or bias.
There are scores of stories of how individuals overcame racist beliefs simply by interacting, in a positive, non-threatening manner with someone from that marginalized group. Familiarity does not breed contempt. It breeds understanding.
Understanding is a form of respect. Respect offers dignity. The pivotal idea to transform the world from a self-oriented, uniformed and biased atmosphere into one of dignity, harmony and cooperation is simple then: Respect.
A group of Winnipeggers is responding to the direction that North America seems to be pursing: a more self-centred, bigoted way of living, lacking respect for each other and the world around us.
If you are interested in learning more about this initiative, contact Bob Lee at bizdynamics1@gmail.com.