The Founders of The Dignity Index Are Breaking the Cycle of Hate Speech and Contempt In Our Politics and In Our Country… And You Can, Too

Division in our country is not caused by our differences. It’s caused by hate. It’s caused by contempt. It’s caused by words. And the solution to it? The Dignity Index.

The Dignity Index is on a mission to bring conversations above the noise and protect us, democracy, and our country. After analyzing debate transcripts, speeches, and social media of political candidates, coders quantify them into scores on a scale of 1 to 8. The lower the score, the more contemptuous. The higher the score, the more dignity present.

The scores are good starting points not only for politicians, but for families and businesses, too. “When we see how often we use contempt and how harmful it is, we see we’re a part of the problem, and that makes us part of the solution,” says University of Utah President Taylor Randall, where the organization launched a pilot program last fall.

Tim Shriver, Tami Pyfer, Tom Rosshirt, and the politically diverse team at the national non-profit UNITE founded The Dignity Project because they knew blaming others with hate and contempt wouldn't help heal the nation's divide. They found the real solution is to treat others with dignity, proving that conscious discourse can be a powerful tool for social change.

The Dignity Pledge goes “there is no America without democracy, no democracy without healthy debate, and no healthy debate without dignity; therefore, I pledge to do more to treat others with dignity and not with contempt.” Take the Dignity Pledge today, learn about their pilot project in Utah, and keep up with their mission HERE. We also highly recommend reading Politico’s article about how the team is changing politics and holding politicians accountable for nasty speech HERE.

The Dignity Index is like looking into a mirror. It will help you let go of your contempt and hate, and be open to healthy debates that can move humanity and our country forward. Let's go!