To ease division, we must commit to dignity

From the Beacon, October 2025

It’s October 2025, and there is no way to deny that the social and civic fabric that binds us together is being stretched as thin as perhaps it ever has. When you read the news, scroll through social media, or listen to coffee shop banter, it feels abundantly clear that there are forces in our nation that are dedicated to dividing us based on our differences and disagreements.

I’d argue that the strongest of these forces is the algorithmically driven content that so many of us consume across various social media platforms on a daily basis. It has been well-established that these algorithms, developed to maximize corporate profits, have figured out that enragement equals engagement. What this means is that your social media feed is designed to agitate you (and hundreds of millions of other users) so that you continue to engage with the platform, its content, and most importantly, its advertisements. It’s a pernicious cycle, and it drives us to see those who disagree with us as enemies as opposed to neighbors.

Federal reforms, aimed at holding social media companies liable for content that is promoted disproportionately by their algorithms, could begin to curb this phenomenon, but our current political climate does not seem to be conducive to such action. So, short of a massive social media boycott, what can we do?

I believe we need to find a pathway back to dialogue with those that we disagree with, and that dialogue needs to be based upon dignity. Such an approach can begin with all of us in our daily lives. It can also be scaled up to municipal governance and debate. From there, we can hope that action at the local level will begin to shift culture at a higher level of society and government so that as a nation, we can begin to focus less on division, and focus more on dignity.

It’s for these reasons that I am so pleased that the MMA is partnering with The Dignity Index to provide a framework for starting this work at the municipal government level. As you’ll see on their website, “The Dignity Index is designed to ease divisions, prevent violence, and solve problems.” We will be joining other state municipal leagues that are working with the Dignity Index, and also following the impressive example of the town of Hull, which has already engaged in this work, and taken the “Dignity Pledge.”

We will be kicking off this work at Connect 351, with keynote speaker Timothy Shriver, who is the co-creator of the Dignity Index. Following his keynote address, we will have Tami Pyfer, co-creator of the Dignity Index, as the featured speaker at the WEMO Luncheon. After Connect 351, we will continue our work with the Dignity Index, with further training and engagement around the index’s curriculum with our member groups.

It’s my belief that we collectively have the power to reject division and embrace dignity, and to do that, we need more than platitudes, but rather a tool for harnessing this collective power. The Dignity Index holds great potential to serve as this tool.

I hope that you’ll join me at Connect 351 in January to learn more about the Dignity Index and the role that you can play advancing this approach in your community.