I had written similar thoughts on the subject of "dignity". That you can't take away the dignity of a human being if he or she is dignified. But that it is one's own dignity that is violated as soon as one tries to take another person's dignity by force. Of course, this would only be possible if the other person was convinced that his dignity could be robbed from him, i.e. if he assumed that he was "possessing" it. What one believes to possess can then logically be stolen or deprived.

I always notice how little I am personally convinced of my dignity when there is a disturbance in everyday life. Yesterday I was out in public space and a man approached me about my inadequate adaptation. He instructed me in a way that made him appear very confident and for a moment he unsettled me, so I answered him lamely and in such a way that I signalled that he should leave me alone. I thought he behaved undignified, it would have been easy for him to just let me do my business, but he absolutely had to make a scene. Now I'm not quite sure if I suffered because he was damaging his own dignity. I suppose so. I was concerned about his role model function and mine, because there were people around us watching. I don't know to what extent they took my reaction as dignified, because when the man said "they could give me a punishment", I said "so be it".

Later I looked to see if his statement was actually based on a factual claim and I found: No, it was not.