The H.U.B

Respect

Respect, it feels like it's been forgotten lately. It even seems like the meaning of respect has become unclear. Many people now tie it only to achievements they find worthy of admiration. But the respect I'm talking about is more fundamental—simple human decency. At its core, respect is about the golden rule: treating others how you'd want to be treated. Unfortunately, this basic principle seems to be disappearing.

These days, people often assume that disagreeing with someone means you're enemies, that the other person is inherently bad and must be opposed. But disagreement doesn't have to mean disrespect. You can even strongly dislike or despise someone's actions—maybe they're doing terrible things and deserve condemnation—but you can still choose to treat them with respect. That's not easy, and you might wonder how it's even possible. "If they're awful, don't they deserve to be treated unfairly?" But that's not the kind of life I want to lead.

At the end of the day, we're all human. Either we all deserve to be treated as equals, or none of us do.

And I know people are probably going to think I'm speaking too generally about this, so let me get specific. I'm bringing this up because of the frenzy surrounding toxicity that has been going around X and other social medias along with MrBeast. Not "MrBeast," the YouTube icon, but Jimmy, the person. I want to make something very clear: Jimmy is not a villain, and he does not promote harm or hate. I'm not even here to defend every choice he's made—he's admitted when he's gotten things wrong and taken steps to improve. But as a person, as a human being, he's not the labels people are slapping on him.

Because it's so easy to label someone. It's so easy to reduce them to a single word or phrase and let that define them entirely. Whether you're praising them or tearing them down—whether you're putting them on a pedestal or calling them "garbage" or "scum"—you're dehumanizing them either way. And that's something I will never stand for. Never.

'Cause I have said it a million times. Over and over, I repeat this all the time: content creators, editors, fanfic writers—we are the exact same as you. We're humans. We're people wandering this world trying to figure out who we are, just the same as you. And even though someone like MrBeast is being attacked and he's a lightning rod for criticism, whether or not that's a fault of his own actions or the society we live in, that doesn't matter to me. Because what I'm talking about is the most basic human element, the one rule that I know very deep down: we are all equal and deserve to be treated with respect.

We are more than our labels. I don't give a FUCK what the color of your skin is, I don't care what religion you believe in, I don't care where you have come from, or where you are now—all I care about is who you are, and whether or not you are free to be able to discover that.

And I am not even just talking about MrBeast now, I am talking generally. 'Cause if we're ever going to be more than we are right now—as a society, as people, as a species, as Planet Earth—if we're ever going to be more than that, we need to, at the most BASIC level, respect each other.

And it's hard. It's hard to take the high road. It's a lonely road. No one wants to go that way. 'Cause it's so easy to seek vengeance, or apply the "other rule," "an eye for an eye." Or label someone with a simple word or phrase just to dismiss them.

And I know people are going to twist my words. They'll say I'm defending the wrong people, or that I'm standing up for "bad" people, or that I'm somehow spreading hate because I choose to support others. But that's not how I see the world.

I see every single person—not defined by their race or beliefs, but as a new opportunity to grow, to find themselves. And to protect that, I have to stand for treating everyone as equals. Because if we lose that, what will become of us? What will happen in 50 years when future generations look back and see that we were too afraid or too divided to give each other the most basic level of respect?

I truly believe that every person in this world has the potential to do something incredible—or something terrible—to spread love or hate. And which path they take depends on us. It depends on us being strong enough to take the high road, even when it's the hardest choice in the worst moments.

I have so much hope for people. I have so much hope for this world and for what we can achieve if we work together to make it better. That's something I will always fight for.

When it comes to dehumanizing anyone, I refuse to accept it. Because in the end, there are people coming after us, generations that will inherit what we leave behind. It's up to you and me to show them what respect truly means.