An interesting commodity.. respect.. particularly on the internet. I believe there are very few who would accept in "real life" the lack of respect which has been shown to Donald and very many others on the internet. Nothing unusual there. In the past if someone spoke with a lack of respect, they would do so in the presence of people to whom they would have to answer in some way. More often than not they would be told to "get a grip" or "behave" and that would be the end of it. For example parents / partners / friends. These days it's so easy to say outrageous and truly awful things *apparently* anonymously and mostly get away with it. I believe that everyone is entitled to a basic level of respect. To be able to go about their business, life etc without being lambasted privately or publicly. It seems that's no longer an entitlement that people in the public domain are given and it's a pretty sad indictment on people who think it's okay to do this. There's a gulf of difference between *not appreciating* someone and showing an almost evangelical hatred, manifested in plain nastiness and spite. Too much on social media tips towards the latter. A bit of common decency wouldn't go amiss. Not just to Donald - but to any other human.
I agree, common decency is something that we should all have. But let’s be honest, Stewie showed precious little of it towards the fans when he realised his well thought out and executed plan had gone down the toilet after the final whistle at Wembley. Yes, there was that veneer there, but once it was scratched off the real Stewart Donald was well and truly exposed to the fan base. Whilst I don’t condone the vitriol it’s understandable considering what we’ve put up with for a considerable period of time.
Good post EJK. Respect is something that everyone is due, but the old saying that respect needs to be earned should probably re re worded to say "once respect is given the maintaining of it has to be earned". I'll respect every person i meet until they become a knob
"There's a gulf of difference between *not appreciating* someone and showing an almost evangelical hatred, manifested in plain nastiness and spite. Too much on social media tips towards the latter." I've seen nothing approaching that. I'm sure you'd agree that Sunderland supporters have every right to be pissed off by the mess Donald's made.
Cheers Ozzy. Reminds me of a story my old army mate told me. Essentially he was promoted to WO2 and got posted to a new unit. Anyway on his very first day he had them all on parade and said “I’m WO2.....and at this moment I expect you to respect me for the rank I’ve attained. Now that moment has passed its up to me to make sure I carry on earning that respect”. Very profound I thought, considering that when we first met we were both Craftsmen (the REME equivalent of Privates) and his nickname was Turbo because he a bit slow.
Did a similar thing in my previous job. Had a team of 10 under me, walked in to a meeting one day and said "I will treat you with the respect that you deserve and i hope you do the same to me. How much respect you deserve from me is up to you just as how much respect i deserve from you is up to me"
But he has made a difference, he's made it far worse. because he couldn't turn a quick buck - bar selling our best prospects to other academies - he has initiated and accelerated a decline via a complete lack of interest & investment.
