What in the word?

After two assassination attempts against former President Trump and unease in Springfield, Ohio, after false accusations that immigrants there were eating pets, it’s the right time to think about toning down the national rhetoric. Gun violence and lies and outrage are a volatile cocktail.

So, lucky for us at Planet Word, on Friday, September 13, we were privileged to hear Tim Shriver discuss his Dignity Index, a tool to measure whether the words you use recognize someone with dignity or contempt. His message is just what the country needs to hear right now.

Shriver, the Chairman of Special Olympics International, a teacher, educator, and father, co-developed the Index as a simple tool that could help people think before they speak and help them use their words to recognize the humanity in everyone. Shriver identifies contempt as a scourge threatening American life and the opposite of dignity. He hopes that by using his Dignity Index we will eventually see a lessening of the overheated nature of our public and private dialogue — and a decrease in contemptuous talk — and, maybe, also a decrease in violence.

Using words to build understanding and tolerance — not to wound or demean — has always been our goal at Planet Word, too.

In Shriver’s engaging, interactive talk he asked the audience to use the Dignity Index 1–8 scale (8 being the highest score) to evaluate statements by public figures and others. The Index made it easy to evaluate their words and the audience could arrive at a quick consensus.

If only the original authors of those words could have heard our evaluations!

Shriver has shared his Index with government officials (like the conservative governor of Utah who wants us to learn to “disagree better” and with students all over the United States. He believes that the earlier we learn to hear ourselves and excise contempt from our words, the more we can engage in the civil dialogue that our country needs to move forward. Given the complexity of the problems and issues facing us (and whoever becomes our next president), we will need to work collectively to find solutions, engaging in dialogue that brings people together, something the Dignity Index can assist.

Below, you’ll see a copy of the Dignity Index. I urge you to print it out and refer to it to evaluate your words as well as the ones used by candidates and other officials in public roles. Have it on hand at your Thanksgiving dinner table to keep the conversation genial or simply as the basis for a great discussion with your pumpkin pie. We all want to be treated with dignity, even if we disagree on policies or ideologies. And once we recognize the dignity in each other, dialogue and conversation and compromise are much more likely to ensue.

Shriver’s talk was part of our Having Hard Conversations series, with funding from the Ibis Group. On October 6, our next speaker will be CNN commentator Van Jones, talking about how he worked with the Trump Administration to achieve criminal justice reform that was never thought possible. As Stand Together, the organization that helped secure this historic deal, says on its website: “It shows what’s possible when people work through their differences and unite with others to do the same.” Join us at Planet Word for this important talk or look for the recordings of all the programs in this important series on our YouTube channel.

—Ann Friedman, founder of Planet Word

Use the Dignity Index to assess the following historic quotes.
Does your rating match the consensus rating?

“I have sat with condemned men on death row, I have spoken with former police officers who have admitted inflicting the cruelest torture, I have visited child soldiers who have committed acts of nauseating depravity, and I have recognized in each of them a depth of humanity that was a mirror of my own.”
—Bishop Desmond Tutu, The Book of Forgiving
Score: EIGHT

“We the people are obliged to take responsibility ourselves and wipe out this scum.”
—Leon Mugesera (1992), who is now serving a life sentence for incitement to genocide in Rwanda
Score: ONE

“Indeed in our democracies we make our freedoms secure because each of us is expected to respect the rights of others and we are free to make our own laws.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt, September 28, 1948
Score: FIVE

“I’ve always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too.”
—Senator John McCain (R), Presidential Campaign 2008
Score: SIX