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Digniblog archive
  • Growing Interest in Human Dignity 2022-06-10
  • A warm welcome to the 2021 Workshop titled "Dignity Through Solidarity!" December 9–11, 2021 2021-11-15
  • Welcome to the Dignity Letter — July 2021 — Dignity Through Solidarity 2021-07-16
  • Can Human Solidarity Globalize? — Evelin Lindner's Contribution to the Great Transition Forum of June 2021 2021-07-15
  • Welcome to the Dignity Letter — March 2021 — Good News in Hard Times 2021-03-21
  • David Yamada's Post-Workshop Blog, December 23, 2020 2020-12-26
  • How to Move from Humiliation to Human Dignity: His Royal Highness (HRH) Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan in October 2020 2020-09-01
  • Dignity now — Forum contribution to "After the pandemic: Which future?" 2020-08-25
  • Humiliation to Dignity: For a Future of Global Solidarity – The Coronavirus Pandemic as Opportunity in the Midst of Suffering 2020-05-04
  • Welcome to Digniworld Wordpress, Digniworld Facebook, Digniworld Twitter, Digniworld Instagram 2020-04-28
  • Welcome to the Dignity Letter — May 2020 — Building a Vision of Healing and Hope 2020-04-27
  • Welcome to our 16th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict 2019-11-11
  • The Chinese Translation of "Making Enemies: Humiliation and International Conflict" Is Out in Beijing 2019-06-16
  • We just had a wonderful 31st Annual Dignity Conference in Cairo, Egypt 2018-10-10
  • Evelin Lindner: In Hameln geboren, zu Hause auf der ganzen Welt 2018-07-04
  • A Warm Welcome to Evelin Lindner's Talks in Norway in February and March 2018 2018-01-24
  • Welcome to Our 14th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict 2017-11-04
  • Good News: 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Nomination! 2017-10-06
  • Welcome to the New Book "Honor, Humiliation, and Terror: An Explosive Mix – And How We Can Defuse It with Dignity"! 2017-03-20
  • In Loving Memory and Appreciation of Morton Deutsch, February 4, 1920 - March 13, 2017 2017-03-19
  • Honor, Humiliation, and Terror: Book talk by Evelin Lindner 2016-11-30
  • Reflection on Paul Raskin's Journey to Earthland by Evelin Lindner: The Great Transition to Planetary Civilization! 2016-11-22
  • Our 27th Annual Dignity Conference was WONDERFUL! 2016-10-16
  • Welcome to our 13th Workshop on Transforming Humiliation and Violent Conflict at Columbia University in New York City, December 8 - 9, 2016! 2016-10-16
  • Welcome to our 27th Annual Dignity Conference! 2016-04-25
  • Good News: 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Nomination! 2016-02-12
  • The Dangerous "Glory" of Killing: La Donna del Lago and Die Fledermaus 2015-12-21
  • Puccini’s Tosca, and the Journey toward Respect for Equal Dignity for All 2015-12-01
  • Alban Berg's Lulu, and the Journey from Humiliation to Dignity, from the “Machine Principle” to the “Life Principle” 2015-11-26
  • The Journey of Humiliation and Dignity, and the Significance of the Year 1757 2015-11-11
  • Reflections on Tannhäuser, Terrorism, Revolution, and Economism 2015-11-07
  • Mass Shootings: A Missing Link, A Common Denominator 2015-10-12
  • Reflections on the 25th Dignity Conference in Rwanda in June 2015 2015-09-29
  • Good News: 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Nomination! 2015-04-15
  • Good News from the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Movement, December 2014 2014-12-20
  • Work that Dignifies the Lives of All People 2014-12-20
  • Maul of America 2014-06-27
  • Global Dignity: What Is It? How Do We Achieve It? 2014-04-15
  • Pioneering Workshop on Dignity in a Brazilian School 2012-02-15
  • Video message from former UNESCO Secretary General Federico Mayor Zaragoza 2011-06-21
  • Norwegian Minister of Culture greets the World Dignity University 2011-04-14
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Alban Berg's Lulu, and the Journey from Humiliation to Dignity, from the “Machine Principle” to the “Life Principle”

Dignity Road Report* - November 2015

Dear Friend!

This is a story of an opera and how it applies to deep questions about the nature of reality, of what is and ought to be. These questions pertain also to modern-day topics such as terrorism, gender relations, or music theory. This little text starts with a brief description of the opera, and then addresses its relevance to concepts of masculinity, love, and music. You are invited to read more here.

Evelin, November 22, 2015

Written by: Evelin Lindner

The Journey of Humiliation and Dignity, and the Significance of the Year 1757

Dignity Road Report* - November 2015

Dear Friend!

In the English language, the concept of humiliation traversed a fascinating journey throughout the past centuries. It is a captivating story of ‘historical linguistics’, or philology. Greek philologos means ‘fond of’(phil-) ‘words and speech’ (logos). Philology means being fond of studying literature and the historical growth and adaptation of languages.

The year 1757 is of particular significance for the journey of humiliation. This year represents an important historical linguistic marker, a marker that signals a momentous change in the Zeitgeist first in the European cultural realm, and later globally. This marker is connected with the emergence of a form of imagining a person that might have existed much earlier in history, but had since disappeared, a form that ultimately lead up to the ideal of equality in dignity for each individual.

The year 1757 stands for the beginning of a ‘U-turn’ that first led away from collectivist honour toward the honour of a single individual, and from there it culminated in the ideal of equal dignity for all individuals – with the term decorum forming the bridge from honour to dignity. Ultimately, this development led up to these sentences in the first paragraph of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted on 10th December 1948: ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood’.

In former times such utterances were unconceivable (and still are in certain world regions also today). A very different version of was regarded as divinely ordained or nature-given: ‘All human beings are born unequal in dignity and rights. Some are endowed with more reason and conscience and should act towards inferiors in a spirit of superiority’. Or: ‘All human beings are born unequal in worthiness and rights – people are born into their rank and they are meant to stay there, only some might move up or down due to their own doing or undoing – and, as an unavoidable consequence, there will always be some who are more free than others, there will always be elites who preside over their subordinate collectives’.
This paper embeds the journey of humiliation and dignity into the larger context of globalisation and why the phenomenon of humiliation becomes more salient nowadays. The paper traces in what ways human rights ideals create an expectation gap that may lead to violent cycles of humiliation. The paper suggests dignism and egalisation as visions for the future.

You are invited to read more here.
Evelin, November 2015.

Written by: Evelin Lindner

Reflections on Tannhäuser, Terrorism, Revolution, and Economism

Dignity Road Report* - November 2015

Dear Friend!

This is a story of an opera and how it applies to modern-day topics such as terrorism and economic arrangements. It starts with a brief description of the opera, then addresses how it may apply to terrorism, and it ends with a very personal and dramatic story of what happened to the author in the last break of the opera. You are invited to read more here.

Evelin, 1st November 2015

Written by: Evelin Lindner

Mass Shootings: A Missing Link, A Common Denominator

Dignity Road Report* - October 2015

Cannon Beach, Oregon

A Letter from Oregon

Dear Friends of Dignity,

For me, the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon hit it too close to home. Not only because it occurred in my home state (again), not only because it struck another innocent educational institution, not only because my husband works at a community college, but also because I've witnessed the deterioration of a person's life that ultimately called for a swat team. 

I hope all of us agree that these situations are complex; there is no simple solution, no easy answers, no short-cuts to the social change we need to prevent mass shootings. Furthermore, though I have worked in education, mental health, and social activism all of my life, I wouldn't dare to present myself as an authority on mass shootings. 

Yet, I, along with my colleague Evelin Lindner, have a 25-year understanding of a particular dynamic that we consider a missing link, a common denominator in the conversation about violence.

Unfortunately, I have to start this commentary by dismantling some enormous obstacles to understanding this missing link:

  • One, this missing link doesn't fit into Western notions of individualism: It is relational dynamic.
  • Two, it doesn't fit into hyper-individualistic models of responsibility that allows us to conveniently offload blame and shame onto individuals, families, religions, ideologies, and politicians: It requires a courageously collaborative understanding of responsibility.
  • Three, it doesn't fit into sound-bite seeking media that keep us on an emotional roller coaster of hope and despair. 

Dear Friends, please allow me to defy these obstacles and name this missing link, this deadly dynamic, this all-to-common, common denominator in mass shootings: The Humiliation Dynamic (Klein, 1991) — the real or perceived experience of being demeaned, devalued, disgraced, and excluded as a human being.

If you don't get it, don't worry: The Humiliation Dynamic has long been neglected in the scientific literature, which has been limited by a highly individualistic lens.

Humiliation is a relational dynamic. It involves interactions between victims, witnesses, and humiliators. When humiliation occurs, it impacts everyone in the equation. My colleagues and I call it a “nuclear bomb of emotions” (Hartling, Lindner, Spalthoff, & Britton, 2013). Think of the humiliating excessive force we've seen used by unskilled police officers and the humiliating killing of police officers serving their communities.

Humiliation is a diverse dynamic. It is an internal experience, a interpersonal/social experience, and a systemic experience, resulting in depression, social exclusion, alienation, and, as we have seen in mass shootings, retaliation. 

Humiliation is a pervasive dynamic: Playing out on playgrounds, in board rooms, and in international relations. 

So what is the root cause of mass shootings? 

Some say it is easy access to guns. There is a gun for everyone in America. Yes, we must do more to decrease easy access and increase gun safety. Yet, most people with guns do not shoot people. 

Some say it is mental illness. Yes, YES! We must do more to support the mentally ill in our society with affordable services. Yet, most people with mental illness do not shoot people. 

Some say it is chronic social conditions, e.g., poverty, racism, growing economic inequality. Yes, YES, YES! We must do more to reduce social injustice and increase opportunity for all people. Yet, most people who suffer from poverty, racism, economic inequality do not shoot people.

Answer: All of the above and something more. Even most people who experience chronic or acute humiliation do not shoot people. But some do, and we can do something about it.  

We can't wait for our leaders to lead us through these tragedies, each one of us needs to plant the seeds that lead us in a new direction. 

We, you and me, can understand that humiliation is a missing link in the dialogue on violence.

We, you and me, can do more to dissolve the dynamics of humiliation in its many forms of disconnection, social exclusion, and discrimination that lead people into despair.

We, you and me, can support the people, politicians, and social systems that provide the resources necessary to reduce the risk of another New Town, Aurora, or Roseburg.

Most of all, we, you and me, can plant the seeds of dignity that create healthy connections. These are the vital connections we need to not only counteract, but also interrupt the escalating and devastating dynamics of humiliation.

We can never train enough swat teams to solve this problem. Swat teams are always too late!

Building mutually dignifying connection is our best long-term protection against violence.

Thank you for your efforts to bring greater dignity into the lives of all people!

Linda M. Hartling, PhD, with Evelin Lindner, MD, PhDs

References and Appreciations:

Hartling, L., Lindner, E., Spalthoff, U. & Britton, M. (2013). Humiliation: A Nuclear Bomb of Emotions? Psicologia Politica, Issue 46, pp. 55 - 76 (http://www.uv.es/garzon/psicologia%20politica/N46-3.pdf).

Klein, D. C. (1991). The Humiliation Dynamic: An Overview. Journal of Primary Prevention, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 93 - 121. (please see: www.humiliationstudies.org/documents/KleinHumiliationDynamic.pdf)

Lindner, E. (2009). "The relevance of humiliation studies for the prevention of terrorism." In Home-Grown Terrorism: Understanding and Addressing the Root Causes of Radicalization Among Groups with an Immigrant Heritage in Europe, edited by Thomas M. Pick, Anne Speckhard, and Beatrice Jacuch, Chapter Section 3, pp. 163-88 (see also: http://www.humiliationstudies.org/whoweare/evelin02.php).

Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, a collaborative global network dedicated to bringing greater dignity into the lives of all people: www.humiliationstudies.org.

Written by: Linda Hartling
  1. Reflections on the 25th Dignity Conference in Rwanda in June 2015
  2. Good News: 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Nomination!
  3. Good News from the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies Movement, December 2014
  4. Work that Dignifies the Lives of All People

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Quotes

Portrait photo of Olof Palme
Von Verhoeff, Bert / Anefo (from Wikimedia)

For us democracy is a question of human dignity. And human dignity is political freedom, the right to freely express opinion and the right to be allowed to criticise and form opinions. Human dignity is the right to health, work, education and social welfare. Human dignity is the right and the practical possibility to shape the future with others. These rights, the rights of democracy, are not reserved for a select group within society, they are the rights of all the people.

Olof Palme

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