Based off a conversation I had today with my brother in law.
Edit
Comeuppance is described as punishment or fate that someone deserves.
Based off a conversation I had today with my brother in law.
Edit
Comeuppance is described as punishment or fate that someone deserves.
Actions have consequences, but if you’re a cruel bastard the consequences might be that people give you more respect than you “deserve,” and if you’re smart about it then you can manipulate and torture people your whole life. I’ve seen the “worst” people, totally abusive and dishonest, commanding the most respect. They have no conscience and they spit on people who don’t “fall in line.” I just avoid them.
Stupidity and bad luck bring about “comeuppance.” There’s no such thing as “deserve,” at least not objectively, not to the universe.
I’m glad we both want to see fairness and kindness in the world. I see you interpret cruelty, abuse, and dishonesty’s effects as respect. I see it a bit differently. When I see cruelty, abuse, and dishonesty, I usually see fear, terror, hiding, lying— anything but respect.
If I see a serial killer who tortures people, I would never respect them. I’d probably fear them. But fear is not respect.
To me, respect is deep admiration. It involves feeling aligned in values, feeling that someone is doing things right and well. If someone is doing things wrong and cruelly, I’d feel deep disrespect towards them.
I suppose our cultures have wrongly conflated respect and fear. People don’t command respect. They deserve it and earn it. They deserve base respect for the mere fact of being human trying to be happy in a brutal world. And they earn admiration-like respect when their hearts are aligned with virtue.