Nice truism you got there. Tell me, how does one earn respect? Because seems to me that the way one earns respect is to give repect... which would instead imply that respect is the baseline, and that it is lost through disrespect, thus, respect is only something that needs to be earned when you refuse to give it yourself. Might be a good time to rethink that truism.
That baseline respect is what we used to call common courtesy.
So, yeah, I agree, that we should all start off with a certain level of decency, and then our actions will take us up and/or down from there.
So, while we it's true that respect is earned, not given, we have to start somewhere, and even if that starting point is "0", that should be neutral, not animus, so you are both correct there.
Now, let's all headpat and make up, as Dr. Stone would say...