… just sometimes…

… and somehow…

… I rub people up the wrong way.

OK, OK… I found it hard to believe, too.

But it’s what they tell me, and I’m not one to call a man (or woman) a liar lightly.

And the sentiment they often express is, in effect, “You should respect others’ opinions”.

No.

Opinions and ideas never, ever deserve respect. Not even mine.

Why?

Because they’re abstract concepts.

More to the point, if you respect one idea just because it’s an idea, with no regard to its veracity, morality, ethics, or decency, then you have to accept them all (because what we’re then saying is subjective opinions deserve respect just because people hold them).

In which case you’re compelled to respect every idea from racism to homophobia, flat-earthery to creationism, and the idea it’s OK for priests to go around fucking children with impunity and then covering up for it.

Oh, so now I see you’re saying not every opinion deserves respect.

Jolly good.

Fact is, some opinions and ideas are just plain wrong and stupid. And others are repugnant and are diametrically opposed to the values most of us have hard-wired into us because of how we’ve evolved and developed as humans.

Ideas — no matter what their source or flavour — do not deserve respect.

What deserves respect is people, and their right to have these ideas and opinion.

But the extent to which we respect people quite rightly depends on the ideas and opinions they have and express — because what you tell me you believe tells me a lot about you as a person.

If you tell me you believe the earth is flat, it was created by a puff of magic in six days by some magic sky daddy, and He’s more concerned by what consenting adults do with their genitals than he is by Bishops going around claiming 8yo girls are sex-sirens and somehow complicit in their own rape and abuse…

… you’re telling me you’re a fucking idiot (and a perverted one, to boot).

Just my opinion (which deserves no respect, of course).

If you tell me you believe email marketing “doesn’t work”, lead-generation is dead, and your customers and clients are too sophisticated to be sold to…

… you’re telling me you’re at best ignorant and uninformed, and at worst a fucking idiot.

And if you tell me I’m wrong despite the events of the last 17 or so years demonstrating I’m not…

… you really are fucking stupid.

I don’t suffer fools gladly.

So, please… you’re welcome to book a call with me to see how I can help you grow your business.

But.

Puh-lease don’t come on to the call in defensive frame of mind and looking for approval. Your opinions and ideas on this matter to me only when you know what you’re talking about.

Chances are I know a fuckton more about this topic than you do. If I didn’t you wouldn’t be talking to me about it.

And while I don’t expect you to respect my ideas (because they’ll stand or fall on their demonstrable merits), I do expect to respect me and STFU and listen.

I sincerely hope that’s enough to put people off, cuz I want to talk to and spend time with the ones who’ll listen and then take action (box and shit below).

Witheringly,

P.S. I’ve also been told recently I’m “rude” for pointing out how stupid some ideas are (specifically in this instance the idea of giving unconditional and unbounded help and advice to people for free in the hope it might lead to business).

For the Love of the Dark Lord, Cthulhu…

When did people become so fucking weak they can’t see their ideas and beliefs challenged without making it personal (hint: if you hold your beliefs so close to your chest they become part of your identity… you’re a fucking idiot and you really do need to stop and think a bit more often)?

Anyway…

… rant over.

Time to fix that call with me.