But considering that 90% of the organisms that have ever lived on Earth have died without reproducing, and therefore you are the end result of a line of organisms every single one of which lived to reproduce, then yes, I'd say we are lucky to have been born at the end of this 4 billion year long process and to have a human brain instead of say, that of a slug. But slugs are lucky too.
I agree that you can grade respect based on how much people have earned it. What I'm criticizing here isn't levels of respect but disrespect.
Re:Stop Calling People Morons.
by pessimizer on Sunday May 13, 2012 @06:48PM
(#3968631)
Do we really want to stand on the shoulders of giants looking down, flipping people off?
fortunate enough to be endowed with a highly intelligent brain
That's just taking it too far. By that same logic they were fortunate that, about 2 billion years, certain bacteria and algae began to appear and thus we have life on Earth today.
If you think did anything alone in your entire life, you are sorely mistaken.
We're all standing on the shoulders of the giants. That doesn't mean we should spend our time looking down and exclaiming "Wow, these guys sure are tall!" We should be aware of where we are, grateful that we're there and make the best of it. And that means look forward and up, not down.
Everybody around you deserves respect because they are the co-authors of your life.
That's where you're wrong. It's true that everything in my life factors into my personality and my measure of success. That doesn't automatically mean that everything and everyone around me deserves my respect.
Like it or not, certain levels of respect have to be earned. Likewise, respect can be easily squandered.