It’s almost Thanksgiving. For many of us, that means gathering with family members around the holiday table and talking to relatives who oppose our politics.
Read More
“The National Citizens Panel, representing the range of political and cultural viewpoints in the country, has validated a key premise of the Dignity Index,” said Shriver, a co-creator of the Index. “It’s shown that people can get beyond their biases and see the contempt coming from their own side and see the dignity coming from the other side -- and see the value to the country of choosing dignity over
Read More
Two years ago, my organization, the Dignity Index, issued a warning to our country: Our national addiction to dehumanizing contempt had reached a point at which the future of the country was at stake. Contempt, not policy differences, our data suggested, is tearing us apart.
Read More
Here’s one of the biggest paradoxes we face now in the United States – and it’s especially relevant after campaign season:
The use of contempt is rising -- even as unhappiness with contempt is also rising.
“Campaigns are long, challenging tests for all sides,” said Shriver, co-creator of the Index. “Everyone gets hit with attacks at some point, and everyone gets hurt. Positive expressions of goodwill can help the two sides begin to get past the pain of the campaign.”
Read More
“The exhausted majority is becoming more exhausted,” said Shriver. “And it’s not just the people in the middle. The partisan wings are weary of contempt too, even when it comes from their own side. As we near the end of the campaign, Americans are starving for politicians who can speak to all voters with dignity and show the rest of the candidates how.”
Read More
“The panelists’ scores again show a strong bipartisan agreement on dignity and contempt,” said Shriver. “The comments also show that the panelists can be passionately invested in an issue and still see through efforts to manipulate their emotions and divide them from other Americans.”
Read More
“The scores this week show that panelists recognize the presence of dignity or contempt whether they agree with the speaker or not,” said Shriver, a co-creator of the Index. “And the comments support the view that a “dignity strategy” – searching for common interests and values, for example – can be much more appealing to voters than a contempt strategy, which demonizes opponents to energize supporters.”
Read More
“The scores this week are the strongest contempt scores yet registered by the National Citizens Panel,” said Shriver. “And they also have the highest bipartisan agreement on the scores themselves. It shows that people can recognize contempt even when it comes from their own side, and they see the damage it does.”
Read More
“When our political parties use the contempt strategy – demonizing their opponents to energize their supporters – it has an unintended effect,” said Shriver. “It turns away the voters they need to win. The candidate that can treat the other side with dignity has a better chance of winning the swing voters who may decide this election.”
Read More
National Citizens Panel finds that contempt continues to pervade political speech and damage national unity.
Read More
Bipartisan National Citizens Panel Issues Second Round of Scores with the Dignity Index. Panel scores and comments offer support for a Dignity Strategy
Read More
It would be hard to imagine a more unlikely series of political events than those of the last few days and weeks.
Read More
We couldn’t be more different.
If you ask us to list the things we disagree on, you’d be waiting a while.
Read More
Millions of us will tune in on Thursday to watch the first of the two debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. And millions of us will rant at our screens and mock and condemn whichever candidate we oppose.
Read More
Last week, I visited Elmwood Elementary School in Naperville, Illinois where students, teachers, parents, and administrators are doing amazing work with social and emotional learning strategies and programs.
Read More
Tim Shriver created The Dignity Index to shift how we interact with other people in all facets of life — from public and political conversations to daily engagements with those who are different from us or who hold views we don’t share.
Read More
Timothy Shriver, CEO of Unite, spoke at the Gardner Policy Institute on Friday about the importance of respecting those with differing opinions and “disagreeing better.”
Read More
Is talking politics in the workplace a bad idea? Is talking politics in general a bad idea? Plenty of Americans think so. For a long time, I did too.
Read More