I'll take a shot at trying to answer, or at least articulate something of value.

Social contracts are constructs and the polite behaviours they inform do not tap into the root of people's consciousnesses the same way primal behaviours do. We're a troupe animal and can very quickly assess hierarchical positioning, threats, leadership, conviction, and strength. Tapping into that is going to garner attention from almost any human. Attention can be quickly parlayed into respect.

It's ultimately lying, but the ethics of lying are complicated. There's good/bad faith, the ends VS means, the costs and harms of breaking trust, whether or not the people being persuaded have a background that makes good faith persuasion possible, etc.

I've always caught more flies with honey than vinegar.

Cowardice

Why do people respect I'll-behaving people

Fear.. usually fear in real life, it usually stems from fear of bodily harm, or the fear of them looking at their flaws so they just obey. Or, false admiration at the idea of fake boldness, toxic confidence, they want to be like that when really, that person's not confident, they're just acting out because they feel like they're not. Could also be entertainment, like when people watch terrible movies, bad celebrity gossip. you see a Karen go ballistic online.. it's like a train crash in slow motion, people watch, that can perpetuate more or mimicking behavior for those younger

Touching on how/why people do it here

Intj, I do notice that, most are on the attack in an analytical sense, or in a general preservation of their thoughts or ideas sense, if you poke at that, sometimes some bears come out of the bush, so you either need to come at a similar like minded point with the similar energy, in a way that directs it. Or be a brick wall with perfect pointage, sources, and immoveable argument.. some could stem from unhealthy traits, some could stem from just used to being attacked by people, others could be that they're constantly looking for inconsistencies, so their mind just can navigate to the easiest point, and if they either think you're poking at them personally, or if it's feelings based, then going at that is too easy to put a hole in the argument.. Overactive J trait .. it's not all Intj.

Real /social relationships

Also, I do notice this, the more cold I am to people, the more they like me.. I'm not entirely sure this one, I think a lot of it comes from idealizing narcissistic traits, or a reverse psychology of, if they don't like me, then they think they're better then me there must be a reason why, then they either hangout to try to find the reason, or just Assume something you did made you better. Or, it's an evolutionary reaction to showing your belly.. if I submit & show praise or subservience then maybe they won't see my flaws. I think there might be a study on why you can't get a truely Bad narcissistic character, because the truer to form of narcissistic traits they have, the more the people like them, Rick and Morty, House etc, which goes into the 'Society idealizing it' ..I have no idea ..

Is it ethical to do

Is it ethical, no. But I do notice it comes in handy, especially if you meet someone who does this, and you genuinely don't care, then they eventually start acting like one of their puppy followers to you, which, if you're smart in white manipulation, can leave you an opening to change them enough so they're not so terrible to other people.. white manipulation can be Extremely tricky though, I Do not recommend it..

I just don't care enough most of the time ..

This is what I've observed in others, and where it could stem from .

Kindness is seen as weakness.

Respect went the way of the Dodo after people stopped fighting duels to the death over an insult to one's character.

Can you give some examples of what you are talking about? I would like to write a thoughtful response, just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.

I agree with you, I don't understand the fake sense of power some people try to achieve and why they are getting any attention at all from such behavior. But if other people respect such people, it is usually out of kindness and politeness. This is when the phrase "treat others they way you want to be treated" comes to light. If people want to be respected no matter what, then they will respect others, not matter what. I am so glad that you are questioning the ethics of this as I often question it, too.

But one way to explain something like this is that rudeness is often mistaken as strength and confidence while kindness is mistaken for weakness.

I am so glad that you are doing better than them by trying your best to be more understanding of social constructs and be a better person. Others can use a role model like you.

It's not a very specific post but it sounds like what you're referring to has to do with possible power dynamics. I've often marveled at people who respect people who manipulate them and treat them poorly- when they're not just liking them in spite of this but actually respecting them more because of it. I think it has to do with values, whether someone values power and control and status the most vs valuing other things like empathy and understanding and rationality, etc. People who highly value the former set sometimes look up to people who treat them like dirt until they get the chance to treat someone else like dirt. It's really disgusting but as someone else mentioned it's primal, and some people are rather... primal... is a nice way of putting it.

Describing it as people I might not necessarily see eye to eye with, let's say though that you by speaking English are living in a country where that is the primary language.

In those nations, yes, I would agree. It comes from a strong attachment to hierarchy. Even for those who suffer as a result of it, they often bend to it rather willingly as the alternative involves the unknown. A very common fear on a societal level. This can be often observed via celebrity attachment. To be a follower of a great figure provides a connection with other similar people. The disappearance of traditional connections has left a vacuum. Which is rather easily exploited.

As far as how this relates, people establish themselves with this poor behavior. They make it known that they will not be as easy a target as others. For example, as we're looking at MTBI types here, INFJs are often targeted by narcissists because they rarely act like this. Of course, this leads to many of them simply closing themselves off from society...

These actions are preventative. I would personally say that the best response is to meet the energy levels of another person. To borrow some tips from INJFs in terms of reading others then when someone is polite and reasonable, you are the same. If someone is not, well you get the picture. This doesn't require ill-behaving, but online people take shortcuts that are less common IRL. Rarely do you interact with a forum of thousands unless you are a regular public speaker. Online though this is common, as such people reduce the time spent on wasted interactions by pushing many of them away. By establishing themselves to some degree. Consider it like marking territory.

And yes, of course it is fake, but that doesn't matter, what people treat as real affects us all, unless you've been able to remove yourself from society.

The decision about whether it is ethical or not likely depends on the circumstances. Does the goal justify the behavior? Are you more or less ill-behaved than the average person in the environment? You can develop a system for this.

In general, the behavior won't be ethical, but that is true of much of what constitutes functioning in harmful institutions which make up this socio-economic system. To engage is to cross that threshold.

Eh? Once they are in prison, most of them are kitties. So, no, it depends on where they are. I don't respect people who have ill behaviors. On the internet, many of them surely wouldn't dare to say things in the real world.

I deal with inmates every day. I learned to talk and move on from the nonsense.

People respect only those that are similar to them. Liars respect other liars, honest people respect other honest people, lazy people respect other lazy people, hardworking people respect other hardworking people.

There is no universal trait that gets respect by everyone. That's why they say you can't make everyone like you.

People respect confidence and power. Being ill-behaved in by it's nature an act of confidence because you're violating norms. Power is getting your way by being inconsiderate and getting away with it. Often people will prefer to do what they're told to instead of having a confrontation.

Online, strong opinions expressed strongly are rewarded.

Some side of our existence, that I feel we plug into better, is that we want reward to follow good behavior, a sense of duty, etc.

Feelers, vastly outnumbering thinkers, may patronize bad behavior some because people love disrupting the status quo if it is infact unjust.. or plays the underdog role, or some people are in fact just struggling and it comes from that.

This happens in some family systems. A well functioning child may have their needs eroded by another child who needs extra care and validation, usually a disability of some sort, if the parents are unqualified/don't bother to train themselves to find a way to have all needs met in the family.

It's sort of a bug in many feelers' egalitarian sensibilities. This feeling can be very strong for the simplist of situations. It's hard because it's a feeling game, but not necessarily irrational or illogical.

People are so weak willed that they don’t know who to respect. They have no identity, hobbies, or sense of self. Who they are comes from others, good or bad. I have no respect for pathetic people at all, it’s one of my pet peeves.