Timothy Shriver: If you want to solve problems, lose the contempt
Illinois Democratic Gov JB Pritzker in recent times gave a speech in New Hampshire that lit up partisan circles thrilled with his fiery and combative tone The reckoning is here Pritzker reported while issuing a thunderous call for mass mobilization and disruption to counter President Donald Trump s agenda He reported the American house is on fire a raging five-alarmer If it sounds like I m becoming contemptuous of Donald Trump and the people that he has elevated it s because I am he disclosed You should be too It s easy to understand the impulse to accept the governor s invitation and the notion that the only way to fight contempt is with more contempt After all Trump seems to revel in the art of escalation On his social media platform Truth Social he referred to Democrats as Radical Left Lunatics and reported They have lost everything especially their minds In his speech Pritzker went on to say that there s a way out of this mess and I wholeheartedly agree But it s not through contempt Contempt is a bad strategy because it doesn t solve problems It stokes a desire for revenge It backfires It all but guarantees that your opponent will dig deeper into the animosity between you Contempt could never get us out of this mess because it s what got us into this mess I d like to stress an alternative Rather than make our arguments with contempt for the other side make the arguments with dignity Treat the other side like they matter In contrast to contemptuous speech treating people with dignity recognizes the inherent worth of every person and leaves space for holding people accountable by focusing on facts actions decisions and outcomes The warmup to the Democratic nomination has begun evidenced by the fact that high-profile politicians are showing up in New Hampshire an early presidential primary state hoping to set a program to Ballot Democrats and Republicans alike would do well to recognize that increasing polarization is the majority of likely impact of aggressive posturing spinning us into doom loops of despair Politicians have a special obligation by virtue of their outsize general platforms to remove contempt from political discourse As the Harvard University professor behavioral science expert and bestselling author Arthur C Brooks has stated If you listen to how people talk to each other in political life in the present day you notice it is with pure contempt He continued If we want to solve the complication of polarization in current times we have to solve the contempt matter Treating people with contempt may sound tough but it doesn t hold people accountable Demonizing name-calling and belittling stir up anger that distracts from the problems we need to fix locking us in opposition and divorcing us from one another as Americans At its worst contempt leads to violence Contempt will start a fight that distracts us from the facts and that serves the cause of people who don t want to be held accountable And before one says But wait The other side doesn t deserve our niceties and politeness let me remind readers that treating people with dignity doesn t mean admiring them It s not saying that every viewpoint is valid It s purely saying that treating people with dignity encourages their best and discourages their worst And it s not only true in politics Research shows that contempt ruins marriages and relationships It can turn toxic otherwise-healthy workplace cultures Indignities cut to our core and specific research suggests can sometimes feel as painful as actual physical harm If people demand it dignity could play a winning role in politics and policymaking Imagine a world where treating each other with dignity is a mark of patriotism a measure of our national well-being and an indicator of future prospective Contempt might be able to number points in the short term but it ensures that we all lose eventually To avoid that end I m challenging myself to engage in a new kind of patriotism one that seeks above all to ease divisions and solve problems I heard this more hopeful kind of rhetoric in Pritzker s speech too He called for an end to the surroundings of retribution And it s that part of his argument that I d like to hold up as the best example of how we can all move forward together There are plenty of people in this country who hold opinions that I find abhorrent Pritzker announced But my faith and our Constitution dictate that I fight for their freedoms just as loudly as I defend my own Agreed Gov Pritzker That s how to save a house on fire Timothy Shriver is a co-creator of the Dignity Index a tool designed to ease divisions prevent violence and solve problems He is also chairman of the Special Olympics He wrote this column for the Chicago Tribune Related Articles Veronique de Rugy Trump s budget would lock in big-government spending and deficits David French Trump is no longer the majority of vital American Editorial Welcome Pope Leo XIV Chicago s holy father Thomas Friedman What 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