Quote Originally Posted by Curtis
You respect the rank because an authorized and qualified group of people have made an evaluation that the person holding it is also qualified. In the BDSM community there is no authorized and qualified group to hand out the titles. Anyone can claim to be a Dom/me, sub or switch with absolutely no qualifications required.
Excellent point. Also, in the military, the future General begins as a Private, subordinate to the entire structure, unless he/she skips this point with an education at West Point or somesuch, in which case he has an agency that has already defined him/her as capable of leadership and capable of self-control and discipline without supervision.