Oh, where to start. Perhaps it's that I have opinions, more than opinions, certainties about religion and politics. The way to being respected is to take other people's ideas, amplify them and feed them back. If only I agreed with people more, I'd be considered to be a font of wisdom. I should emulate Mullah Nasruddin:
In a Sufi story, the famous Mullah Nasrudin is to judge a case between two men who are quarrelling. After listening to the first one tell his story , the Mullah is carried away by the logic of his presentation. "You are right," he declares. The second man indignantly demands to be allowed to make his case. He, too, is so eloquent and persuasive that the Mullah declares that he is right. At this point the Mullah's wife intervenes. "How can you say that," she asks. "They can't both be right." "You’re right, too," answers Nasrudin.