An opinion exists only to convince others of its correctness. Respect should only, yet always lie in the argument through which the opinion is reached.
If a natural selection model is applied to society the they become one and the same, selfishness being just as valuable as selflessness.
When someone acts in self interest they are trying to do something better than everyone else, to better themselves. If they succeed then the rest of society has the option to adapt to this better method, following by example. The result is that the self interest of one person led to the betterment of all of society.
