The Human Respect Fellowship Becomes [redacted]
Last week, I withdrew from participation in the Human Respect Fellowship.
In short, there was a conflict of visions with the editorial team, not the Foundation team, that led me in collaboration with my wife and for the best interests of my family, to step away.
Each of us have limited time. I’m 33 years old. At an optimistic best, I have another 67 years. A mere 3,484 weeks of life. The clock is ticking for each of us. I take full responsibility for failing to read the room as the Fellowship got underway and I departed as soon as I realized where things stood.
In the onboarding process, I didn’t fully understand the editorial organizations priority on mainstream news and current events and their avoidance of conceptual pieces, as well as their preferred approach to sharing the Principle of Human Respect. After submitting a few drafts I was told future writing should proceed “without explicitly naming human respect or using the foundation’s lingo,” removing my opportunity to speak on the Principle of Human Respect directly. With limited time on the grand and daily scale, it would be throwing aside much of what I’ve learned in the past few years to burn valuable hours by ambulance chasing headlines or cramming a remarkable idea into mainstream news.
My philosophy on news and journalism is part of a bigger picture: I don’t believe the latest national headline is a healthy vehicle for changing hearts and minds. Even locally and at the state level news should be information focused and opinion pieces should be personally impactful and uniquely human. The latest outrage isn’t worth our time because national coverage and editorial pages are often designed to stir outrage and tether individuals to an agenda, especially during an election year. The Moral Principle of Human Respect, however, isn’t the status quo in law or policy, and its only agenda is encouraging you to decide your own best future without hurting others. It deserves direct attention.
My goal isn’t to reach the most number of people. I want to reach the niche of those able and willing to make a difference locally using peaceful means. Feel free to send those select few my way and we can find ways to build community together. It’s one of the reasons I respect so many of you who subscribe here whom I have had the pleasure of meeting or speaking with personally. Many of you live this ideal every day.
My goal is to uncover unique and interesting ideas, like the Moral Principle of Human Respect, and provide them to you for consideration and further discussion. As I do not feel it is right to call myself a Human Respect Fellow moving forward, but I maintain my commitment to using this lens to provide insight through June – we can simply call this series [redacted] for the time being. We will see how this develops.
Here’s the most important takeaway:
I do not believe you need my take on the latest headlines. In the long run, you don’t need me at all.
You already have everything you need to be a shining example of Human Respect as you pursue your best life and greatest happiness.
But you already knew that, didn’t you?
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