Respect is basic dignity you owe everyone, not admiration or trust. Without it, personal grievances turn into violence and chaos. Accountability still matters, but respect keeps society from collapsing into retribution.
The key is how you view the definition of respect. I'm going to treat them with dignity and respect. That does not mean I honor them, admire them, trust them. I'm still going to hold them responsible for what they did wrong. But here's the problem. The moment I think I don't have to treat you with respect, what's on the table that I could do to them? Hurt. It is. It is. Seriously, the worst things could happen if I think somebody's not worthy of dignity and respect. So we'd have a chaos of a world if anytime I think you did me wrong, I can just get justice on you. That would be back in the 1800s. That did— stuff happened. People would turn around in a bar and kill someone. And we— now, by the way, does that stuff still happen sometimes? Yes. Yes, it does. But we don't want it as the norm. So that's what we mean by that.
