judge who has the temerity to live there.
manservants. They were, she said, becoming
to 12 hours) and, significantly, for servants
grammar. Respect is something that we
feels, and it is this natural sympathy that
old brother tried to kill him. Ten years ago,
hospital. The graduate student who insists
Out of symbolic respect for the passed life?
placards saying ‘rape is a shame to society’,
unaccustomed to think of them beyond the
less than pleasing standard of food to be
nature as our slave and our precarious niche
It also emerged that her sole candidate
flunkies with ideas above their station yet,
to be able to be called by their own names
can give without costing us anything.
morality is based on. Reason will never make
in the suburbs of Athens, it was my turn: a
on splitting the cheque with his banker
Out of some kind of concern for ourselves?
‘my body needs respect’, ‘the battle will not
traditional, idealised figure of the caring
had at the local hotel, or whether the same
within nature as impregnable. This human
for the position of valet was none other
she concluded wearily, there was ‘little to be
rather than their employers’ preferred
Sometimes not to give it can be dangerous.
us good. ‘Reason is and only ought to be the
near-fatal car-crash. Now I am fifty and he
friend. The toddler who demands release
I do not know the answer. But our work
stop’. One poster I saw said, simply: ‘Women
mother-devote wife-innocent sister’. This
hotel really deserves the world-class rating
arrogance is suicidal and has to stop.
than her son Krzysztof, a window cleaner
done’ because they were just ‘so much a part
names. Model employers, like the fictional
It is what the gangster sees as his due:
slave of the passions’.
seventy-five. Old men need respect like they
from the safety harness in her highchair
in the world seems clear enough. On the
want respect’.
reminded me of a feminist slogan popular
it has often been given. It is this unwavering
We need to recognise our dependence on
by profession, laid low by a protracted
of our climate, like our Christmas fogs and
and farcical Crawley’s of Downton Abbey,
to diss – whose etymology I do not need
And yet passion (the 18th century term
need water and air and an old man that has
so she can eat her dinner a bit more
one hand, to forge together different
Of course rape is nothing new in India,
in Italy in the 70s: ‘neither whores nor
disagreement and disdain for pretty much
nature. She has sustained us for thousands
bout of vertigo and urgently in need of
roast beef and our cricket.’ In a surprise and
may have been happy to accommodate these
to belabour here – is to invite physical
for emotion) is unreliable. As Kant pointed
not earned the respect of his children is like
freely. I have always found the father of
conceptions of dignity among cultures
or indeed anywhere else. Perhaps the
madonnas, just women’. In India women
everything that has both attracted and
of years. She gives us wellbeing. We are
other employment. I told Brygida that I
stinging reply, Mr Robinson castigated his
requests. But many others were not and,
violence. At which point we can begin
out, it’s a matter of luck whether or not
a beached whale, dying in ugliness.
the Karamozovs one of the most terrifying
while remaining constantly vigilant of
perception of it is starting to change. Indian
started asking for respect; a traditional
repelled readers in equal measure. While he
all connected and wellbeing can only be
would try to find Krzysztof some suitable
employer for her outmoded attitude and her
as a result, experienced the sharp end of a
to suspect that the notion of respect has
you feel sympathy, and many people are by
At night, through the double-doors
figures in literature for just this reason:
covert interests and violence. On the other,
media reported that in 2010 as many as 414
patriarchal mindset does not recognise them.
launched his attack on Austria’s narrative
achieved if the personal, social and economic
job on terra firma, as long as she stopped
own moral failings. Lady Greville was wrong.
lasting servant shortage.
treating me like some aristocratic derelict.
Something was happening. The old ideal of
Any more of this, I thought, I’ll be inviting
service was starting to break down.
become poisoned, far removed now from
temperament cold-hearted. He may have
of Mary Brown’s house, I hear my
he seems capable of living a satisfactory
to ensure that calls for human dignity
cases of rape were registered in Delhi, the
Says Sharma: ‘It is almost a clash of cultures,
of victimhood with a ferociousness and
spheres exist as an integrated part of nature.
Why was it so hard to afford domestic
the idea of good manners or propriety, and
been thinking of himself, but is surely
stepmother, who has lost her mind, talking
life without dignity.
don’t end up distracting from deeper, more
highest rate among Indian cities, and the
and women are paying the price of it’. Also
intelligence matched by few others, the
We are happy only when we respect the
servants respect, recognition and dignity
now nothing more than a matter of eliciting
sensible in avoiding optimism; whereas
in her sleep. He whispers kindnesses. By
It turns out the word ‘dignity’ has an
material forms of inequality that, after all,
number of cases has risen around 10% the
when dalit and other lower caste women
total denial of the possibility of redemption,
rights of nature and all people – it is a
subservience. Respect is no longer a two-
Hume, who may have been generalising
day, he is a monster, a Minotaur. If you
unusual history. The Latin term dignitas
are the most common source of indignity
following year. One can only wonder whether
demand respect, their violation serves to put
improvement or positive change within
seamless process. If the forests are cut
way street. It is now a matter of kowtowing,
from
generous-
say, ‘I lost my job’, the Minotaur will
referred to behaviours and privileges
in the world. In an age when the Kantian
it is the incidents of sexual aggressions that
them back ‘in their place’, and to reassert
his literary universe appears to some as
down, if biodiversity is diminished, if the
of knowing your place in the hierarchy.
spiritedness, has, as an empiricist, no right
roar, ‘I lost my job once’. If you lament, ‘I
accorded to social rank. The dignity of a
revival in philosophy is in full swing, we
actually rose, or the number of women that
both gender and caste hierarchy. (MF)
nihilistic defeatism.
rivers and oceans are poisoned, if animals
CRITICISM
His stance is not dissimilar to Elfriede
are cruelly oppressed, then humanity
Jelinek - another author often criticised for
is impoverished too. And if human
what is perceived as her failure to suggest
communities are damaged, because of
an alternative to the depressing world she
poverty and deprivation, then they will
depicts. However Bernhard’s savage humour
lose respect for nature and be forced to
lends a special sting not found in Jelinek.
encroach more upon natural resources.
his
own
well-known
As I write this, the New Year’s Honours list
to such a profligate induction. Perhaps he
didn’t sleep’, the Minotaur will cheer ‘Well
king was not the same as that of a marquis
should remember that regardless of how
dared to report it: because it takes a great
has just been announced. The idea behind
is correct, certainly about his readers, that
I slept fine.’ If you admit, ‘My train was
whose dignity was not the same as that of a
much dignity inheres in the human person,
deal of courage for a woman to denounce
this is that the State is conferring its respect
each of us feels sympathy towards our own
late,’ the Minotaur will counter ‘I was on a
duke. Fine degrees of dignity ensured that
it cannot bear much meaning without
a rape, both because the social stigma
upon those whom it deems its people should
family and friends; but this limited, biased
train that was late once.’ And if he cannot
aristocrats could not, like commoners, be
access to our wealth and parity with our life
that will remain with her and she knows
respect. Well, that’s a nice idea as far as it
sympathy is exactly what leads to feuds,
trump, a piggy red meanness invades.
bodily seized or jailed for debt. Today we still
chances. The reader will perhaps agree that
in advance that the police will be reluctant
There are few authors who have made
goes. The idea in practice is far murkier.
favouritism, injustice and oppression. How
Funny if it weren’t so raw.
speak of certain political offices as having
the term ‘respect’ shares all or most of the
to register the case, or may ask for lurid
disrespect into an art form - both in and
For example: the thought that should I, on
can Hume explain the moral requirement
Rain in sheets. Goat bells in the
‘dignity’ separate from the person who holds
problems that I have alluded to. (TM)
details, perhaps insult her, or insist she
outside of their writings - as did Thomas
meeting Bruce Forsyth, feel like observing
that our whimsical flickers of compassion
wuthering storms. Day after day, the sheet-
them. In the 20th century a great levelling
accept some compensation and withdraw
Bernhard. The first major act of disrespect
representation, and its implications for
protocol, I would have to address him as ‘Sir
be extended more impartially, and that pity,
lead swell of the Aegean at equinox. The
of dignity took place. What Melville called
the case – police and even judges are often
may be traced back to 1968 as he was awarded
both political and personal well-being, is
It is impossible for an individual to have
Bruce Forsyth’, makes me feel the stirrings
if not felt, be at least practiced? Perhaps
clash comes on the first bright morning.
‘democratic dignity’ took hold — and we
reported to suggest the victim marry the
the Kleinen Österreichischen Staatspreis;
at the centre of his late novel Old Masters.
self-respect when others are suffering from
of profound nausea. That, when he was alive,
he relies on his idea of ‘natural virtues’
The Minotaur is in a grump. His tender
all fairly suddenly started enjoying certain
aggressor as a ‘reparation’. No wonder rape
his
the
The central figure, the aging musicologist
starvation, social injustice and wars. Also,
Jimmy Savile had to be similarly honoured
being elevated into ‘artificial virtues’. Yet
wife, of cloud stuff made, ventures:
privileges once reserved to a small slivers of
It was an unusual New Year’s Eve in India.
is under-reported.
minister for education to leave the room and
Reger, sits every other day in Vienna’s
how can an individual be healthy or happy
(also, for good measure, he revelled in the
surely the elevating can only be achieved
‘I listen to the World Service at night.’
royals. Legally speaking, all of us in theory
Or at least in Urban India, and certainly in
The harsh truth is that ‘rape is almost
a Viennese newspaper declared Bernhard
Kunsthistorisches Museum in front of
on a frazzled planet? The very elements are
KCSG, or the Pontifical Equestrian Order of
through Kantian-type reasoning. That is
And like an idiot, I mutter:
have joined the ranks of a higher caste.
New Delhi. Most celebrations in public places
culturally sanctioned in India’, wrote
a ‘bug that must be exterminated’. This
Tintoretto’s ‘The White-Bearded Man’. He
punishing us with tornadoes, inundations
St. Gregory the Great, but then the Catholic
what enables us to judge that others and
Church has a good deal of well-documented
their loved ones, even if we can’t palpably
form in ... well, you know) is now making a
feel for them, have as much of a claim to our
lot of people very uneasy, but only because
theoretical sympathy as those with whom we
they are now wondering whether it can be
automatically sympathise. This theoretical
possible for these baubles to be taken away
sympathy is respect.
‘I wouldn’t listen to those Foreign Office goons, crowding out private thought.’ ‘French people always say that’, he spits. His pupils shrink to angry black dots.
REPORT India’s Daughter
well-known
journalist,
The Value of Disrespect
acceptance
speech
provoked
This
approach
to
art
and
overall
Respect for people and respect for nature are inter-linked.
This great historical achievement in the
such as clubs and hotels were cancelled in
another
Shoma
all too public act of disrespect against the
is not there to glory in the accomplishments
and drought. As we withhold respect from
West has now been enshrined in all our
a sort of common mourning for a young
Chaudhury. She pointed to the common
prize bestowed upon him by the state, was
of the masters, but rather uses his visits to
the earth that sustains us we bring new
legal and human rights covenants — to a
woman whose name and face was unknown
attitude of looking at it ‘through the
followed by a wave of hostility against him
find the imperfections visible in every piece
disasters upon ourselves. Without respect for
point of promiscuity. But several problems
to the public, but whose fate outraged the
prism of women’s responsibility: were they
that came not just from the government but
of art ‘when we have studied them really
nature, the future of our planet and people
I have left England to live in France.
remain for those enthusiastic intellectuals
nation. In December a twenty-three years
adequately dressed, were they accompanied
also the Austrian public, branding Bernhard
and truly, and that means as thoroughly
is bleak. Social justice and environmental
‘French people’ to him, is code. It means:
who now want to hang every last ideal on
old paramedical student was gang-raped on
by a male protector, were they of sterling
a ‘Nestbeschmutzer’. But it wasn’t only his
as possible for as long as possible’, upon
justice have to be built on respect for the very source of life, the mother earth.
posthumously – not whether they should
Kant was a fervent democrat, and was
‘that part of you which has rejected me’. It
the hook of human dignity. First, how
a moving bus she had boarded with a male
‘character’, were they cautious enough’
public appearances that earned Bernhard
which ‘they dissolve, they crumble for us,
be sprayed around thoughtlessly. Cherie
terribly excited at the outbreak of the French
also means: everything I hold in contempt.
easily can an essentially aristocratic
friend on the way back home from a movie
(’Why did it need such a brutal incident
this moniker; in his novel Old Masters,
leaving only a flat taste, in fact most of the
We need more self-respect and more
Blair gets her CBE for services to charity
Revolution (which, Hume, had he lived to
We know each other well.
concept be transvalued into a democratic
theatre in South Delhi. Raped and savagely
to trigger our outrage’, Tehelka). It’s the
Austria is described as ‘Catholic National
time a very bad taste, in our mouths.’ This
respect for others. Self-respect is a
(that’s a good way of getting a gong – which
see it, would have found appalling). He was
I stand. I say, ‘You had better apologise’
one?
centuries
beaten with a metal rod, then dumped on
eternal game of blaming the victim: did
Socialist state’, her politicians as ‘state
discovery of imperfection is the result of
first step to social and environmental
involves a conspicuous infringement of the
a democrat in morality too. In saying that
and step outside. A carpet of dropped
seems to have come always at someone
the road (her friend too was nearly killed),
she ‘invite’ the aggression? Not that India
murderers’, her judiciary as a ‘political and
total, critical engagement with a work of art,
respect, but without respecting social and
Christian suggestion that charity should be
the wish to lie is self-contradictory, he is
figs ferments acidly on new-laid paths.
else’s expense. Now it’s very universality
she did not survive the violence and she
is different from most places of the world
public danger’, her art as ‘so cheap it does
to which the only alternative is the practice
environmental integrity self-respect is
private and discreet), but how long will it be
concerned not with the liar’s inconsistency
Half-a-mile below, a classical tower, big
threatens to flatten out its definition and
later died in a Singapore hospital.
before yet another example comes up of her
but with her failure to see herself as an
ironstone rocks cut neat and piled dry
leave us with little more than a banality.
greed and venality? One need not, of course,
equal member of a moral community. It is
into a cone, guards. My heart is cold: an
single Mrs Blair out here; and indeed, by the
because I treat myself as if I had special
achievement, I reckon.
standards of the times, she is a small player
privileges (‘because I am rich’, ‘because I
when it comes to fondness for cash, or the
am poor’, ‘because I belong to that family’,
blandishments of despots.
Dignity
in
previous
to this regard - except perhaps that the
not even deserve our blushes’, the state
of ‘admiration’, the reserve of the ‘dimwit’
a delusion. These three dimensions are
The news of this unspeakable brutality
Indian police officials have a tendency of
itself is ‘a chaotic rubbish-heap...where
who is more interested in what he knows to
intertwined. Respect for the self. Respect for others. Respect for the environment.
Second, ‘human dignity’ appears to
shook the Indian capital, not because
being too explicit about their feelings: last
thought has died out’ and the nation as a
be respectable than an actual engagement
have entered the contemporary lexicon
such an occurrence was unheard of but
April two Tehelka reporters spoke with
place where all one sees is ‘a gigantic heap
with a work of art.
I go to my room and pack, come into
of human rights under the less-than-
precisely because it was becoming so
dozen of senior cops in the Delhi-National
of alarming physiognomic refuse’.
How different, really, is this type of art
the cult of economic growth has to be
the kitchen and say, ‘I’ll drive my bags
auspicious banner of Catholic conservatives
common. Demonstrations and marches
Capital Region and caught them on
As this little salvo shows, Bernhard had
appreciation from the social critique that
challenged. It is obvious that unlimited
Respect for the biosphere means that
‘because I have been wronged’) that I think
down to the hotel, bring the car up and
in the 1930s. The phrase, according to the
filled the centre of New Delhi and other
hidden camera saying that in most sexual
no trouble finding terrible things to say
one finds in the works of both Bernhard
economic uses up – destroys - a finite
Why should we respect these people,
myself entitled to steal, lie, extort, kill. But
walk back down.’ Now I am leaving, I feel
historian Samuel Moyn, first showed up in
Indian cities: women and men, young and
assaults ‘she asked for it’, that ‘they’ll
about his country, and it did not stop there.
and Jelinek?
planet, yet politicians, business leaders
then? The principle seems to be along the
why should I, among all these others with
a surge of release, a fifty-year-old weight
the preamble of the Irish Constitution of
old, many students but also people from
drink with men and have sex but then say
Such complaints are but finite elements,
Just as Reger in Old Masters decides
lines of To him who hath, more shall be
whom I am equal, be somehow exempted
off my brain. I can live and love.
1937. Part of the reason the Irish set about
different backgrounds. They wanted the
it was rape’, ‘it’s all about money’, and
strung together into tirades, which were,
that the only option, given the sheer
given, for all the lollipop ladies and lifeboat
from what I expect them to do?
and
policymakers
appear
unable
to
comprehend this simple fact.
He tells me, tugging on his blue pyjamas,
enshrining the term was that it seemed to be
culprits to be imprisoned. Some wanted
so on. In some cases senior policemen
most impressively of all, latched onto one
ridiculousness of all experience, is to
volunteers who are given the so-called
The other is not someone whose emotions,
that I am over-reacting. He offers to spend
bulwark against the perceived inhumanity
more police in the streets. Many asked
have revealed the identity of rape victims,
another to create highly readable novels.
‘turn the world into a caricature’, one
We need to learn from nature that linear
‘people’s medal’ (means: condescending
when I detect these, are liable to affect me
the day with me. The others are going to a
of leftwing totalitarianism and the moral
for stricter laws and fast track courts
showing no respect for the women (nor for
Admittedly, one must get used to the rhythm
could respond to the sheer bleakness of
Natural life-forms move in cycles. There
trinket), the British Empire Medal. Alan
(and with any luck prompt me to help), but
museum. What comes into my mind is this:
degradation of liberal secularism. For
for rapists. Some suggested to castrate
the laws they should enforce).
of Bernhard’s writing before one can really
the political and social sphere depicted
is growth, decay and renewal. But in
economic growth is unsustainable.
the bloody Mitfords around for tea and
The recent BBC2 series, Servants: The
in the past? We might ask the same
Sugar has his millions; yet that baronetcy of
someone who necessarily stands as a solid
the Minotaur uses my toothbrush without
them, the phrase human dignity’ signalled
them. Some shouted ‘hang the rapists’.
When I asked for her comment, Kalpana
enjoy the work, but once accustomed to the
in Bernhard’s writing by focusing upon
industrial economy we don’t respect this
letting it be known that I don’t think
True Story of Life Below Stairs, tracked
question in relation to those who do the
his trumps his former knighthood. I doubt,
presence in the passageway of whatever I do.
asking. If I sleep after lunch, within minutes
a kind of illiberal corporatism with obvious
The government was caught off guard,
Sharma pointed out that rape is everywhere,
pace, one finds oneself moving from attacks
injustice rather than on ways of changing
basic law of nature.
Germany really fancies a war.
the rise and fall of Britain’s servant class.
domestic work today. Some of this work is
for instance, I could have any more respect
I should, says Kant, always treat the other
he wakes me. There is nothing of mine that
metaphysical commitments that set it apart
the police tear-gassed the marchers, and
that 80 to 90% of cases of reported sexual
on the Austrian education system (‘teachers
it. If the rites and pomp of Catholic ritual
The spectre of debt, deficit, recession and
And so, in a single morning, I had been
At its height, service employed more
creative and fulfilling and can involve Cath
for George Martin than I already do, and
‘never merely as a means, but always at the
is not his, not gobbled up, metabolised into
from other ideologies. In the postwar era,
the opposition jumped on the bandwagon
violence in India are committed by men
ruin their pupils...and Austrian teachers in
and Renaissance painting can be seen as
unemployment now hovers over much of the
called by my first name by a young man
people than any other single industry.
Kidston accessories. Much of it is dirty and
calling him ‘Sir George Martin’ is a small
same time as an end in himself.’ So I can use
him. He is a bull, yes, a sullen king, a wine-
‘human dignity’ was salvaged as an ideal
accusing the government. Meanwhile,
known to the victim - relatives, neighbours,
particular’), to the abysmal state of Vienna’s
ridiculous caricatures, what’s to prevent
Western world. Respect for nature is seen
in a shop, whom I had never met, and
In the early twentieth century, over
thankless: cleaning, sweeping, scrubbing,
price to pay for the pleasure he has given
a taxi-driver, with her agreement, as a means
sodden baby. He is an old man on a stick
by Christian democrats of a decidedly
deeply enraged, thousands continued to
colleagues, with a high proportion of family
public toilets (‘Vienna is one great lavatory
our own society from being seen as such?
as a luxury to be heeded only in the good
addressed as a Lord by my housekeeper.
1.5 million people worked as domestic
washing, wiping. It is also work that is never
me, and countless millions, since producing
to get to Heathrow Airport – that, given her
unable to wait, unable to stand or sit for
conservative, if no longer illiberal, cast.
fill the streets of central New Delhi for
members - not the unknown man assaulting
scandal’) and on to everything else (‘we may
This is both the strength and the danger in
times. For the moment, concern for nature
Nobody seems to understand how to greet
servants. Yet in the decades that followed,
done but must be repeated day in, day out.
‘Love Me Do’. But it does not make the
livelihood, will serve her purposes too – but
pride and I am his son. Set free.
each other anymore.
the trappings and rituals of traditional
It’s the stuff of life, the bedrock of intimate
Beatles’ music any better. Nor will his
if she has a heart-attack on the way I can’t
domestic
the
care and comfort. Yet few societies value
knighthood make Bradley Wiggins any faster
just hop out of her taxi in pursuit of my own
Professor Hudson - a man, incidentally,
1950s, the uniforms and bells had all but
it or those that do the bulk of it. Today,
on a bicycle. It may, indeed, even slow him
means and hail another one. Pursuing her
without a first name of any kind, as far
disappeared. As the series presenter, I was
the domestic service sector in Britain
down. So let us instead respect those who
ends, I have to ensure she gets to hospital. I
as we knew. He once tried to recruit me
intrigued to understand why.
My old linguistics tutor at Cambridge,
service
collapsed.
By
The third problem with ‘dignity’ is that
conservation is considered an impediment
I say, ‘I am going now so as not to lash
it does not have the equalizing effect that
to economic growth. The environmental
out.’ But I do not leave. I sit at the end of
many think it should. ‘Human dignity’ has
agenda has been sacrificed. Politicians,
the table in the shade and listen to his talk
often been a kind of smokescreen to hide
industrialists and business leaders are
of Lyndon Johnson’s White House and book
behind. Take the 1990 Cairo Declaration
desperate to restore business as usual and,
is dominated by low-paid migrant and
do not choose to accept honours, who refuse
feel far more upset about missing my plane
contracts and the Sunday Times and when
on Human Rights in Islam, whose article
despite empty rhetoric, see sustainability as
for MI5, a fate I only narrowly avoided
A major reason was that later generations
part-time workers, most of them women.
to bow down before the monarch that others
and my important project abroad than about
I can take no more I walk Rilke’s letters
6, in contrast to the Universal Declaration
an awkward and unnecessary detour.
by pleading heterosexuality - used to call
of young workers had more choice and were
Domestic workers’ search for respect still
may bow down before them. Let’s look at
the illness of a stranger, but I respect her as
down the grey, flagstone path through
of Human Rights, asserts that women share
This presents a great challenge to the
them ‘honorifics’ (at least, before he fell
keen to exercise it. Young women in particular
has a long way to go. (PC)
them again. Type ‘list of people who have
someone whose ends are as important to her
the village, past the spring beneath the
equal dignity’ with men but conspicuously
environmental movements. Our task has to
victim to a shameful putsch by a rabid
– my own grandmother among them - were
refused honours’ into your search engine
as mine are to me, and different.
cabal of Chomskyites): titles bestowed
no longer prepared to follow their mothers
on one’s fellow man for the purposes of
and aunts into service, despite the fact that
civilised interaction.
the demand for servants remained high.
COMMENTARY Honours’ Lists
swooping plane, down along into the shade
drops any mention of ‘equal rights.’ Among
be to show that ecology and true economy
of choice and you will turn something up.
Respect and equality, rather than fickle,
of a carob, out through the bright sheep
Western governments, the mention of
need not be in contradiction with each other.
The extraordinary thing is the number
biased feeling, are what Kant’s moral system
wire that keeps the goats from the village,
‘dignity’ either seems to cover for political
What will we do when we have covered
of non-famous people who have declined
depends on. His starched Prussian thought-
up to the point of the road vertically above
inaction or none-too-subtle permission to
all our land with concrete, all our fields
The point of an honorific is to address
Some of them were asked to explain why to
You might have thought it was easy to sidle
this official mark of respect. In their very
experiment is arguably more conducive to
the tower, whence I stare out over a steep,
engage in upholding dignity. Last year when
and farms with industrial parks and
people as they might wish to be addressed:
a parliamentary enquiry into the ‘servant
up to the concept of respect and inspect it.
modesty resides that which we should
equality, justice and respect than Hume’s
parched valley, that, but for the sea, would
François Hollande promised to ‘commit
shopping centres and when we have
to do this correctly, one needs to pay them
problem’ in 1923: ‘We just don’t want to be
For example, just look at what I did there:
respect the most. (NL)
stringed-instrument metaphors and fluent
be Anatolia or dry Alp or the mountains of
[himself] to upholding human dignity
cleared all our forests to make way for
the respect of understanding a little of who
treated as skivvies’, they reported. At the
put ‘respect’ and ‘inspect’ very close to each
emotional twangings, however appealing. It
North Africa. Instead, because of the sea,
wherever it’s violated’ during a visit to the
buildings, airports, and motorways that
they are. This should not be some ghastly
heart of this major social shift was a search
other, so we can peer at the Latin roots.
also gives a more accurate representation
the peaks are Greek islands, dotted with
House of Slaves museum off the coast of
do not respect the natural order, that
relic of the class system - codified deference,
not just for better prospects but a heartfelt
Inspect, to look into something; respect,
He was a fashionably dressed little man
of our moral intuitions (Kant meant it to
white houses and fig trees and mulberries
Senegal, he seemed to be implicitly asking
waste energy and exude CO 2.
in other words - nor should it be the one-
search for respect.
PHILOSOPHY
to look at it again, to give something a
(5 foot 2), of regular habits, who never
describe, as well as prescribe, what we do and
and bougainvillea. And I stare back up at
for a carte blanche for French actions in
Without respect for the environment a
instilled
The old ideal of service had been built
second glance, to pay attention to it, not to
ventured more than two miles beyond his
expect when behaving morally). Of course
the terrace above, where a seventy-five
Africa. Yet when Hollande visited Algeria in
saturation point will come very soon. If we
in its workers by a mammoth, cult-like
upon servants’ respect for their masters
insult by overlooking it; to give something
home-town of Königsberg, loved military
Kant is less loveable than Hume, of course
year-old schoolboy waits, not wanting to
December and the Algerians demanded an
continue to pollute, damage and destroy
corporation. Rather, it is politeness. If you
and mistresses. In return, the masters and
its due. As an example of the casual way
marches, was obsessed with his bowels and
he was hidebound by his character and
know how joy and love are a dangerous
apology for French colonialism ‘in the name
our environment, we will end up causing
snap your fingers in La Coupole and shout
mistresses had a duty and a responsibility
in which respect can be denied someone,
bodily ailments, held up his stockings by
prejudices -- he gave money but not time or
blood that runs in the veins of our species,
of Algerian dignity,’ he made clear that he
an economic crisis on a scale we cannot
‘Garçon!’ at a waiter in his 60s, he will find
to meet the needs of those lower down the
I allude to an episode that occurred
means of bands running up his inside leg
affection to his working-class siblings; Jews
like language and colour and the irrational
had not come ‘to apologise.’
even imagine. Respect for the environment
it rude; more to the point, you may have a
social scale. As the Servants series showed,
between me, the editor, and an accountant
into his pocket where they were attached to
he described as dirty swindlers – and he
ability to reason, and I think I cannot walk
Defenders to the concept of ‘human
is more than an economic imperative. It is
long wait for your steak frîtes. Show him
in practice this ideal placed both sides under
of a magazine I occasionally write for. I’d
springs, and almost certainly had no sexual
didn’t live out his equalising principles. But
down the hill seven kilometres into town in
dignity’ still have several decent arguments
also a moral imperative. We, the present
respect by calling him ‘Monsieur’, on the
enormous emotional strain. Employers were
asked her anxiously for a payment due
experience whatsoever. These anecdotes
we should respect his moral philosophy.
the sun, he will be wanting his lunch.
in their arsenal. Among the most common
generation, have no right to take the
other hand, and he will be mastic in your
harried by ‘insolent’ and ‘incompetent’
me, she asked the accountant, a few times,
about
philosopher
And love it. Respect can, admittedly,
I open the tall, white, sheet-steel door and
is that if dignity is what separates men from
forests, fields and fisheries from future
hands; although, it must be said, I have not
servants, while servants lived their lives on
when this was going to take place, and the
Immanuel Kant might seem to epitomise his
be seen as just a fail-safe option to
go to the table where he sits holding a GCSE
animals then it is critical that this difference
generations. Human wellbeing, social
yet discovered an honorific to melt the heart
standby, waiting for a bell that might ring
accountant, perhaps mistakenly, perhaps
moral philosophy as well as his character.
be adopted when sympathy fails, but,
textbook of Ancient Greek history and say,
be respected. The reason, we are told, much
cohesion and environmental sustainability
of a Parisian taxi driver.
are all interdependent. (SK)
size-fits-all
fake
friendliness
the
18th
century
at any time of the day or night. Resentment
not, had included me as a recipient of his
His dictum ‘Act as if the maxim of your action
properly practiced, it can lead us through
‘I’ll make lunch.’ I cut tomatoes, onions,
of the savagery of the great systematic
I have been called Knott-san in Tokyo,
of the lack of simple personal freedoms –
reply to her: ‘I cant just drop everything to
were to become through your will a universal
behaviour to attitude to a feeling stronger
cheese, basil; fetch cool water, a tin of squid
massacres of the 20th century could be
Bill-ji in Delhi, and Mr Bill by the chap who
freedoms that were beginning to be won by
make payments.’ Although, at first sight, it
law of nature’ might sound like a legalistic
than sympathy. The meaning of ‘respect’
in ink and beer. And afterwards I say, ‘Do
perpetrated with such easeful impunity is
makes my breakfast in Sri Lanka. None was
other workers - fuelled servants’ demands
is rather breathtaking how an accountant
version of the schoolmarmish ‘how would
covers all three. Respecting someone can
you want to talk about what’s happened?’
because the victims had been stripped of
given, or taken, as implying superiority: it
for a new kind of reciprocal respect.
merely oiled the cogs of civilised behaviour, building an atmosphere of mutual esteem.
might feel that of all the jobs he has to
you like it if everyone did that?’ Suppose (is
involve treating them with deference,
And for four hours we do. And though he
their dignity — that is, their very status
These demands took different forms. John
perform for a magazine, that of paying its
one of his examples) it would be convenient
regarding them as having dignity, or,
cannot bear to show he does not understand,
as fellow humans. Primo Levi gives the
Robinson’s public attack on his employer
contributors is the most demeaning, it is the
to lie in your present circumstances – would
ultimately, feeling admiration for them
I say what I must say, which is that he has
example of the old man at Auschwitz who
For the umpteenth time running, I
was rare. But countless others voted with
missing apostrophe in ‘cant’ which is the
you want everyone to be compelled to lie?
and their attributes. In a way respect is
not been a Dad. (PH)
took care appear well-dressed and fix his tie
thrashed young Adam at ping-pong the
their feet and simply switched jobs when the
cherry on top of this ice-cream sundae of
Surely that is precisely what you rely on
more loveable than love. (JO’G)
other day. ‘Nuff respect, Uncle!’ he panted,
work or conditions didn’t suit them. Then
disrespect: he couldn’t even be bothered to
them not doing. For, if lying were the rule,
as I administered the coup de grâce, a rather
as now, better employers retained good staff
punctuate properly. (Of course, by another
then there would be none of the trust that
fine top-spin smash. No, I thought, one
for longer. There were also several attempts
token, the amount of badgering this editor
is necessary for your lie to be believed. Your
really can never have enough respect. (BK)
to unionise servants in the early twentieth
has to do in order to get copy out of me
wish to lie is therefore self-contradictory.
century. None really succeeded because
might itself betoken a lack of respect on my
Yes, all right, but (as post-Romantics) we
Dry, mica shale in upright slabs, four-feet
although domestic servants were arguably
part – but no, that’s another matter entirely.
tend to be more in tune with the loveable
tall. Giant autumn crocuses: pale lilac in
the largest single group of workers, they
Ask any writer.) Slovenly use of language
David Hume, who lived just before Kant,
colour with sharp pointed petals. On each
were also arguably the most fragmented and
may usually be a matter of poor education
and said that it is fellow-feeling, not reason,
casualised, mostly employed in twos and
beyond the user’s control; it’s when well-
that guides us to moral action. Just as, ‘in
SOCIAL STUDIES
Servants’ Search for Respect
CRIMINOLOGY Respect, Tradition and Honour many days, as if in a cathartic exercise.
you in a street, as is commonly supposed.
look at whatever we please... we only look at
a disrespect as pure as Bernhard’s; it may,
The notion of respect has always been
in order to be treated with more respect —
It certainly was the first time an incident
What happened in Delhi awoke the urban
malice and infamy and at betrayal and lies
in its unwaveringly negative depiction of the
linked to that of authority. Think of
and more soup — by the guards. But even
of rape provoked such a wide reaction in
public to the insecurity that women
and hypocrisy and... absolute baseness’) as
world, encourage a nihilistic defeatism in
traditional patriarchal authority, which is
this more instrumental understanding of
India, well beyond the women’s groups
experience in big cities, but rape occurs in
if carried along a giant, unstoppable wave
some, but its ability to force people into a
rooted in the provision of recurrent and
dignity — that, if we drink deep enough
who had long campaigned on the issue; the
small town and villages as well; it is endemic
of revulsion, fusing the political, the artistic
new perspective and to stimulate debate -
routinised necessities of everyday life.
We agree that human dignity is to
of the dignity discourse, we will become
first time that a debate on sexual violence
in areas of conflict; it is a daily experience
and the petty into one long, provocative and
welcome or not - by dint of that very same
Respect, in this case, relates to the socio-
be respected, but this hardly helps us
immune to evil — is unsatisfactory. Not
reached mainstream India. Rape is no
for dalit or adivasi (‘tribal’) women, who
frequently hilarious whole.
intensity makes this kind of disrespect a risk
economic sphere, from which the patriarch
understand what dignity means. The phrase
to mention the notion that human dignity
more a ‘women’s problem’ - indeed it has
are actually comprise the greatest number
It is clear that Bernhard’s disrespect does
worth taking. (NC)
derives his function of ‘natural leader’ and
‘human dignity’ has burrowed itself into the
has to come at the expense of anything —
never been, argued well known journalist
of victims. It often occurs in police stations
not function only in a political sense, and
petal a rectangular labyrinth in darker
heart of our legal documents, but this only
including animals.
Kalpana Sharma (‘What’s wrong with
– such as was the case with Soni Sori who
neither are his works political critiques as
purple, like a circuit-board diagram. I pick
makes the work of retrieving its meaning
The strangest thing about dignity is that,
Indian men’, The Hindu).
was sexually tortured in police custody, as
we traditionally understand them. There is
related in The Spanner a year ago.
no alternative put forward to the state of
DIARY Honour Thy Father…
OPINION The Price of Dignity
Respecting People and Nature
threes in small middle class households.
taught people can’t be arsed to put in the
strings equally wound up,’ the plucking
two. Beside the chapel, a small graveyard,
harder. We have lodged so many ideals on
on a cultural level, it appears universally
In 1894, there was very public spat
Servant unions’ demands were modest
right punctuation mark that I feel, on behalf
of one string sets the others vibrating, so
not more than a dozen graves through a
the concept’s shoulders that it threatens to
inescapable.
everyone
The Indian Interior minister promised
‘Indian society is in transition’ summarised
affairs that he so vociferously attacks, and
between a well-known socialite, Lady Violet
but telling. A 1913 Doctrine of Discontent
of the English language, insulted. It is the
emotion (said Hume) is readily conveyed
locked gate, each with its separate cross.
become nonsense. And yet we know dignity
everywhere treats their dead with respect.
‘exemplary punishment’ (homicide carries a
Sharma. ‘Young women are more and more
serious points, such as Austria’s failure
Greville, and her butler, Mr John Robinson.
issued by Glasgow maids lead by 17 year old
equivalent of scratching your arse in public:
from one person to another. To see someone
Three times, I have come to Greece, each
when we see it. The celebrity patient who
Why do we do this? Why, when our humanity
death penalty in India). But those protests
in the public sphere, in education, at work,
to engage with its own role in National
Respect for nature is lacking in our
Lady Greville had complained in a newspaper
Jessie Stephens included a call for higher
sheer bad manners.
crying (or laughing) is inevitably to feel, if
time with my father. On the northern coast
demands some dignity from the paparazzi
is at its lowest ebb — has just vanished
raised deeper questions than just ‘hang the
leading independent lives - but a male
Socialism, are strung alongside and linked
society. Rather than treasuring her as a
column about the quality of Britain’s
pay, a shorter working day (but only down
to a lesser extent, the grief (or hilarity) she
of Crete, in the seventies, my twelve year-
photographing her as she enters the
—— does our instinct for respect increase?
rapists’. In New Delhi young women waved
dominated society failed to take notice,
into arguably petty complaints, such as the
thing of beauty and intrinsic value, we use
This is more than just prissiness about
For
instance,
What will remain of this surge of protests?
ECOLOGY
provider of various forms of patronage, seeing it as grounds for other forms of respect and authority that invoke tradition. For example, the supposedly legitimate authority of husbands, fathers and seniors may be based on a system of sacred norms whose infraction results in magical or religious punishment. Traditional
authority
is
irrational,