Ease Divisions.
Prevent Violence.
Solve Problems.
We formed UNITE in 2018 to find ways to help ease divisions in the country. In 2021, we began developing the Dignity Index, an eight-point scale for measuring how we talk to each other when we disagree. Our faith in the Index is grounded in a few core beliefs:
Contempt causes division; dignity eases division.
If we put a spotlight on dignity and contempt, we will use more dignity and less contempt.
If we show Americans how they can help ease our divisions, they will jump on it.
In October 2022, we publicly introduced the Index in Utah during the mid-term elections, scoring political speeches on a weekly basis. The Index was seen as reliable, fair, and intuitive. Voters from opposite ends of the spectrum were able to agree on scores, and the media covered the Index eagerly on TV, newspapers, and radio. In the Utah project and the response since then, we’ve identified three findings that give us confidence the Index can make a national impact:
The Electrifying Effect
The Index triggers a striking demand among people for briefings, training sessions, public speeches, curricular materials, and workshops.
The Mirror Effect
At first, observers treat the Index as a tool for judging others, then find it is a mirror for seeing themselves.
The Agency Effect
When people spend time with the Index, they discover that contempt is the problem, that they contribute to it, and they can take action to help solve it.
Our work to scale the Index relies on three core initiatives:
We are launching “Students for Dignity” groups at the nation’s universities, beginning with the charter group at the University of Utah. These groups will be a centerpiece of the effort to scale the Dignity Index nationally.
We are designing on-line training courses, workshops, materials and culture-change tools for individuals and groups who want to learn more about the Index and use it to help change behavior in their communities and families, and embrace a dignity culture in the workplace.
We are working with developers to create AI tools that journalists can use to score political speech, browser extensions that people can use to keep contempt out of their newsfeeds, and apps that can flag contempt in personal messages before users post them or send them.
The North Star
Inside ten years, “dignity” will be seen as a winning strategy in politics and policy-making, and how we treat each other will be seen as a mark of patriotism, a measure of our well-being, and a key indicator of the future.
