henry Wrote:

silly Wrote:What if your parent is Adolf Hitler? Should you respect him? I think people (parents included) should be respected based upon what they say and do. Yet I do think every person deserves respect as a human being, and there's a little more respect that can go to parents. Although they shouldn't be unchallengable.

it depends on how you as his son see him as.

Yeah I'm sure many German kids from the early 1940s would have looked up to his power and authority. But the point is that just because someone is a parent doesn't automatically mean that they should be respected by their children. Imagine a child who's father raped his mother without ever meeting her before (which is what conceived the child) and then disappeared. Who would say that father deserves respect? No reasonable person. People (parents included) should earn respect as a result of what they say and do.

You could point to a King and say that he deserves respect because he is the leader of an entire country, but does he deserve respect simply for that? I don't think so, in the past Kings have been dethroned by the majority of their people for the "crime" of being cruel tyrants (or for making really bad decisions). There's a reason dictators have become so unpopular. Hahaha

Of course it could be said, that there are some individuals who respect people based simply on status or authority. But that is either dogmatism, ignorance, fear, or a combination.