Speech score could help civilize political debate
What grade does America get for dignity?
Dallas Morning News
By Dallas Morning News Editorial
February 11, 2023
A couple of special needs advocates have created a tool that may help boost American civility. It couldn’t come at a better time.
Tim Shriver, chair of the Special Olympics, and Tami Pyfer, a former special education teacher, are promoting something they call the “Dignity Index,” which scores political speech for civility and divisiveness. The index classifies political speech into eight levels. Level eight, the most civil, is speech that offers dignity and hope. Level 1, the least civil, dehumanizes and advocates violence.
The index is part of Unite, a nonprofit created by Shriver that seeks to inspire more Americans to “reject ‘us vs. them’ thinking and stand together in common purpose.”
Pyfer, who served as an education policy adviser to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, said quantifying divisive speech is part of improving it.
“I taught special education, and a lot of what we teach has to do with behavior change,” Pyfer told Politico. “If a kid’s off task, and you want a change, you label it, find a way to measure it, and do an intervention.”
An intervention is certainly needed. According to a 2019 report from Pew Research, most Americans think political debate has become less respectful, fact-based and substantive. Half of the respondents in that survey said talking about politics with people they disagree with is “stressful and frustrating.”
The Dignity Index was launched just before the midterm elections last year. A research team tracked congressional races, particularly the tilt between Republican Mike Lee and independent Evan McMullin for U.S. Senate. After a debate between those candidates in October, the index scored several of their statements, all of which were between Level 6 (finding common ground) and Level 3 (attacks on moral character). They also scored candidates’ social media posts.
Scoring speech is tricky business. Where is the line, for instance, between divisive speech and unpopular speech? There’s a danger here of this slipping into speech policing, which is why the Dignity Index should remain a private-sector endeavor.
That caveat aside, there’s no denying the need for this. Our public discourse is coarse. We’ve lost the ability to disagree without demonizing, especially online.
In a presentation to the Utah League of Women Voters in November, Pyfer said her group wants to help America break its “addiction to contempt.”
Visitors to the Dignity Index website are invited to take a pledge. It reads: “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.”
That’s a pledge every American should take.