Let me kick this post off by saying outright, FORGET the junk cliché that “respect is earned”. That is nonsense. It is illogical. It is misleading and impractical, and it flies in the face of our rights. Likewise, it is one of those internet clichés that are devoid of all truth, and that gets people to believe something that isn't true.
We are all strangers to many other people. The wild internet claim that a stranger first has to earn one's respect is harmful to your right to be treated properly. The superior idiot with his victim-mentality that came up with that saying only earned himself a kick in the balls, that's what.
