We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) third president of the United States of America, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, 4. Juli 1776
The Unanimous Declaration of The Thirteen United States of America

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1, issued by United Nations, Paris, 10. December 1948

Human dignity is inviolable.
To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
German constitution, Basic Law, Article 1, paragraph 1, 23. May 1949 ¹

[...] Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.
Constitution Act, Part I, Preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, 1867-1982

Human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. […]
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Section 1, paragraph a, 11. October 1996²

Human dignity is inviolable.
European Constitution, Article II, 61, Rome, 29. October 2004

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1. Historic Traces of Dignity

Glass Port wine

In 1486, the Italienian humanist and Renaissance philosopher Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) presented his classical text Oration on the Dignity of Man (Oratio de hominis dignitate) to a crowd of hostile clerics. Pico outlined the principles of modern humanist anthropology of his era by inviting men to emulate the "dignity and glory" of the angels, through the pursuit of philosophy and the liberal arts.
Pico emphasized that dignity of humans is based on his free choice between animalistic and angelic aspects.
Pico's dignity speech was published in 1486. In February 1487 Pope Innocence VIII condemned it as partially unorthodox.

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola: "There is nothing to see more wonderful than man!"

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) French philosopher: "I have never seen a greater monster or miracle in the world than myself."

Hermes Trismegistus: "A great miracle, Asclepius, is man!"

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2. Liberty – Equality – Fraternity

The Age of Enlightenment picked out as a central theme the topics Liberty – Equality – Fraternity.
It seems difficult to come up with a valid general definition of human dignity.
In general human dignity is understood as the sum of all basic rights and human rights.
Respect and protection of human dignity serve human beings to evolve Freedom of choice, Equality of Divine origin and conceptual Siblinghood among themselves.

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3. Dignity consciousness in companies

The Study about human resources policy 2009 showed that out of 80 questioned German companies every 12th had no idea about human dignity [human capital] as their motivation to act is solely based on pecuniary values.

15 % of the German speaking companies denied the human dignity of their employees by scoring zero points for their costly [money-wise] employees. They speciously prefer short-term monetary profits via stockholders and customers.

Companies or joint practices that use, manipulate, exploit, and control staff members and customers as a means to the end of short-term profits will sooner or later ruin themselves whereas dignitarian companies that do not tolerate rankism [humiliating behavior towards those in lower ranks] do gain strength in the long range.
See Leadership (in German)

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4. Afflicted Emotions and Human dignity

Shame and guilt are the most destructive emotions within a group of emergency emotions (including anger, grief, greed, and pride) damaging the whole and undermining the good of all according to the psychodynamic theory of the psychoanalyst Sandor Rado (1890–1972).

Whoever feels shamed, fixates outwardly. The inviolable human dignity – both the sacred and the tabooed – has been desecrated (dishonored) in front of and by others.
Transformed shame – beyond inferiority and victimhood – implies a sense for the sacred.
Whoever feels guilty, fixates outwardly. He or she desecrates (dishonors) their inalieable innate inviolable human dignity.
Transformed guilt – beyond self-defeating flagellation – implies a sense of regret, reversion, recontextualising, metanoia.
Transformed grief – beyond indictment and whining – implies a sense of understanding for the conditio humana and compassion.
Transformed righteous anger ("Holy" Wrath) – beyond disempowering aggression – implies a sense of justice and the strength ready to launch social reforms.
Transformed pride – beyond superiority and supremacy, narcissm and predatory impulses – implies a sense of divine dignity, reflected in human dignity.

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5. The threshold between pride and Integrity

According to the Map of Consciousness developed by Dr. David Hawkins the frequency field of pride and volition vibrates at the level of consciousness (LoC) 175-199. Pride is an attitude supporting personal gain while damaging community and society.

The threshold from where on ethical [moral] behavior beneficial to the community becomes possible is at LoC 200. It marks a fundamental leap in consciousness, to transcend the line of demarcation between pride and dignitarian integrity.
The consciousness level of mankind collectively has crossed the borderline of integrity in 1987.
In August 2009 it has reached LoC 206.

Actually the [deeply ingrained] concept of WE and [against] THEM is no longer there – according to the new reality. [...] Therefore treat others as a part of yourself. The entire world should be part of WE. Here we need the concept of oneness of humanity [...] and we need a sense of global responsibility. [...] The reality is no longer separate, this I feel.
Video panel dialog with XIV. Dalai Lama and Global Elder Mary Robinson, on Wisdom and Compassion for Challenging Times, part 6, presented by The Tibet Fund, moderated by Pico Iyer, The Town Hall, New York City, USA, 3. May 2009, YouTube film, minutes 2:38, 3:40, 4:37, 8:37 minutes duration, posted 19. May 2009

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6. Women's leadership superseding men's leadership

In 2002 the average level of consciousness of the executive board members and CEOs of the 500 best companies listed by Fortune magazine was LoC 198 [LoC 199 in February 2004], showing the most pronounced expression of pride.
On average and predominantly the male chief executives of corporations world wide [97.5% in Germany] have a prideful attitude.
The mostly male chief executives who played an instrumental role in triggering the global financial meltdown in 2008 do not seem to have noted or internalized this message yet.

The management consultancy McKinsey confirms:

Women score higher in leadership in respect to
- staff development,
- team decisions,
- inspiration (intuition) and
- rewarding.

In 2000 the 30 DAX-listed German companies had not a single woman among the executive board.
According to the German institute of economic research (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung) only 2.5 % women hold top-level leadership positions in the 200 biggest German companies [status end 2009].

Pepperdine [University] found that the Fortune 500 firms with the best records of putting women at the top were 18 to 69 percent more profitable than the median companies in their industries. McKinsey looked at the top-listed European companies and found that greater gender diversity in management led to higher-than-average stock performance. Katty Kay and Claire Shipman, TV journalists, authors of Womenomics, Fixing the Economy? It's Women's Work, The Washington Post, 12. July 2009

In 2004 Norway passed the law: 40 % of all positions in supervisory boards must be held by women.³
The government of The Netherlands discusses to require by law to fill the executive boards of companies with a certain proportion of women.
Study results show that the more balanced the sex ratio among chief executives is the more successful the respective companies will be.
European stock corporations with a relative high percentage of women in management positions perform especially successful – by
- faster growth,
- higher profits and
- better stock market quotations.
Source: Cora Werwitzke, Weibliche Intuition in der Führungsetage. Studien belegen den Zusammenhang zwischen Frauenanteil im Vorstand und Unternehmenserfolg, transl. "Female Intuition in the management level", German TV station ZDF, 10. December 2009

A cross-cultural study sponsored by the World Bank found that governments with more women in power had less corruption.
Source: Corruption and women in government, The Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Volume 46, Issue 4, pg 423-429, December 2001
Data favor the "fairer system" thesis. Women are more inclined toward honesty and the common good. Two recent influential studies found that increased participation of women in government reduced corruption.
Source: Hung-En Sung, Fairer Sex or Fairer System? Gender and Corruption Revisited, Social Forces, Volume 82, Number 2, pp. 703-723, The University of North Carolina Press, December 2003
The US American Senate (83% male senators, 13% female senators) voted to embark in the second Iraq war.
Roughly 200 nations in the world are run by about 5-7 stateswomen.
The current ratio in the world power structure is 97:3 [status 2009].
- 97% nations are run by predominantly dominance seeking men,
  3% are run by predominantly stability seeking women.

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7. Effecting female leadership

Companies run by women CEOs are considerably more profitable than those run by men CEOs. [Women have not participated in the non-integrous of the work place as long, and so bring a higher level of integrity, as a whole, in their positions. [Dr. Hawkins muscle tested CEOs on average at LoC 199 up from LoC 194 fairly recently.]
Dr. David Hawkins, Sedona Seminar Thought and Ideation, 28. February 2004

And those women who were seen as leaders – the highest-achieving, most competent, and most outspoken – were "trashed" and purged from the movement. "Sisterhood is powerful," Ti-Grace Atkinson is credited with saying. "It kills sisters." The movement ate its leaders. In eliminating those women who were pushing the edge, the upward surge of woman rising slowed almost to a halt. This dark unsisterhood has little to do with helping or caring for others – at least not other women. Differences are tolerated as long as they make no difference – in other words, as long as they do not reveal differences in power, ability, or status. And power operates covertly: unacknowledged rather than unused. […] We faltered in leaping further because the ideology of the time said that all differences between the sexes came from cultural conditioning, which could be changed. But in fact, there was something more fundamental, more primitive, operating in us at an instinctual level. A deeply rooted, biologically driven impulse to compete against each other not only destroyed the movement's leadership, but it sabotaged sisterhood – and any hope for further collective transformation.
Elizabeth Debold, Where Are the Women? The New Women's Liberation part 1, page 2, presented by EnlightenNext magazine online, issue 29, June-August 2005

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8. Four developmental stages

Four developmental stages – in economic systems

Parasitic – Interest and compound interest in the Monetary system
Predatory – Private Banking, Debt Creation
Competitive – International stock corporations (in western societies run by nearly only white male CEOs and Board members)
.....................................................................................................................
Symbiotic – [Locally] Cooperative social economics / Global Networking

Four developmental stages – in biologic systems

Parasitic – Viruses – Appropriation / Monopolization
Predatory – Predators – "Eating and being eaten" "Fuck or kill"
Competitive – Mammalians – Survival of "the fittest" – Non-integrous Fractioned Mindset
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Symbiotic – Cooperating Cell Aggregates – Biotope, Habitat – Beginning of Field Consciousness

Source: Video lecture by Watts Wacker, US American futurist, Sodexho, Annual Meeting, Paris,
on futurism, the difference between futuring and visioning, 53:33 minutes duration, 6. June 2006

9. Moving into dignity politics

Evolution from one tyrant (king) to Group tyranny (nobility) to people tyranny (middle classes)

Pressurized by 10-12 allied revolting English barons the "Evil King" John of England signed the Magna Carta at Runnymede in England on June 15th, 1215. This first legal charter granted fundamental political freedoms to the nobility.
Followed by an extensive historical process it led to the rule of constitutional law in the English speaking world. It influenced the development of the common law and many constitutional documents, including the United States Constitution.

Developmental stages – of Politics – Forms of Government

Monarchy
Fascism
Communism
Pre stage pseudo Democracy i.e. neoliberal casino capitalism – Fractioned Mindset
..................................................................................................
Democratic dignity culture – Beginning of field consciousness
See Spiral Dynamics – according to Ken Wilber's terminology

Four Pillars of Dignitarian Culture and Politics

Either-Or – Freedom [of choice]
As-Well-As – Equality / Equivalency / Parity
Neither-nor – Siblinghood [Contextual Unity]
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All-in-All – Dignity for all in Culture, economy and Politics'''

Four Steps of Languaging – C. O. Scharmer

Nice Conversation
Fierce Conversation
Reflektive Dialogue
..................................................................................................
Generative Dialogue
Presencing. Learning From the Future As It Emerges. On the Tacit Dimension of Leading Revolutionary Change, Conference Knowledge and Innovation, Helsinki, Finland, 25.-26. May 2000

Four Phases of Team and Community Building – M. Scott Peck

Pseudo-Team – Pseudo-Community
Chaos – Confusionary phase
Sobering phase – Emptiness, Zeropoint
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Functioning Team / True Community

Insights of the Dalai Lama

Money or wealth failed to bring inner peace.
Modern education [science] failed to bring inner peace.
Technology also failed to bring inner peace.
..................................................................................................
In the 21st century we need promote human values, compassion and affection.
Women are more sensitive to pain or suffering of others. […]
Therefore, [women of the Western world] please take a more active role.
H.H. Dalai Lama, Peace Summit, Vancouver, 27. September 2009, presented by CTV.ca, Clip 2 of 4, last section, minute 14:53-17:59

We are developing a new culture. Culture is what happens when you have the collision of ideology [a body of doctrine] and civilization.
We have organized around political war [including the ideologies monarchy, fascism, communism, and liberal democracy]. And liberal democracy has already won.
Watts Wacker, US American futurist, Watts Wacker: Internationally Acclaimed Mind Reading Comedian, minute 2:40, YouTube film, 6:24 minutes duration, posted 16. October 2009

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10. It All Depends on the Way You Look At Things

One day a rich father took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose to show him how poor people can be. They spent a day and a night on the farm of a very poor family.

When they got back from their trip the father asked his son,

"How was the trip?"

"Very good Dad!"

"Did you see how poor people can be?"

the father asked.

"Yeah!"

"And what did you learn?"

The son answered,

"I saw that
- we have a dog at home, and they have four.
- We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden, they have a creek that has no end.
- We have imported lamps in the garden, they have the stars.
- Our patio reaches to the front yard, they have a whole horizon."

When the little boy was finishing, his father was speechless.
His son added,

"Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!"

Author Unknown
Source: Rich Or Poor – How Rich Are You?

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11. Rankism and humiliation ⇔ "Dignity for all" – Robert W. Fuller Ph.D.

Robert Fuller, Ph.D., a professor in physics, a college president, was a media darling in his 30s and a diplomat in his 40s and 50s. When he left titles and positions behind he felt treated as a nobody in 1995. His periodic sojourns in "nobodyland" led him to identify and investigate "rankism". One night he said to himself:

"Nobodies of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our shame."

That sparked off his first book to lay the groundwork for the dignitarian movement.

Rankist societies are the largely unconscious (second nature) norm within patriarchy.
Therefore, all-pervasive superior rank-based abuse is discriminatory or exploitative behavior towards people of lower rank in a particular hierarchy.

Rankism insults dignity; indignity is the result thereof. Rankism expresses itself as bullying, racism, sexism, homophobia, wars, torture and other acts of violence.

After 20,000 years of ingrown rankism on all levels of society Fuller found that things have changed. Rankist organisations are less successful than dignitarian organisations which do not tolerate abuse of rank.

The AlterNet interview The Somebody Mystique and the Rise of the Uppity Nobody with Robert W. Fuller, author of Somebodies and Nobodies. Overcoming the Abuse of Rank refers to Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963). Fuller's analysis identifies rankism as an ism akin to sexism, racism, classism and others. The upsurging counter-force he calls the dignitarian movement.

Rank – One's place in the hierarchy
Rankism – Abuse of the power inherent in rank to exploit or humiliate people of lower rank (less power) in a particular hierarchy; Inflicting indignity on others, a lack of dignity, discrimination
Somebodies – People whose dignity is secure; (Feelings: Noticed, encouraged, welcomed, appreciated, respected, included, esteemed, acclaimed, elevated, loved)
Nobodies – People whose dignity is insecure or under attack; (Feelings: Overlooked, discouraged, spurned, depreciated, disrespected, excluded, shamed, disdained, demeaned, despised)
Dignity – A secure place within the system, appreciation, no banishment
Indignity – Lack of dignifying, honoring, affront, violation of someone's sense of dignity, embarrassing, offense, humiliation, degradation
Dignity security – Get a high enough position which no-one dares to threaten
Dignity politics – Not yet existing

Source: Robert W. Fuller, sociologist, All Rise, YouTube film, 3:10 minutes duration, 20. Februar 2008

The politics of dignity
The three great traditions liberty, equality, and fraternity coined by the French Revolution work much more effective as soon as the forth subsuming pillar of dignity will be added.
It will result in liberty in dignity, equality in dignity, fraternity in dignity.

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12. Quotes on Dignity ⇔ Rankism by Robert W. Fuller Ph.D.

Personal avowal

When people ask what I do, I'm tempted to blurt out, "My name is Bob and I'm a nobody" — at least while the stigma remains.
I've come to think of myself as a home for identities. When incubating something, I'm a nobody. When presenting it, I'm a somebody. Being a somebody is like a trip to the big city—exciting, but taxing. After a while it's nice to leave the commotion behind and go back where I'm most comfortable and most alive. I count this as the biggest surprise of my life.
Growing up, I always expected to be the same somebody for life, like my father. But at fifty I could look back and identify several different somebodies that had used me to make one case or another. Now, a decade later, I see movements between somebody and nobody as a natural part of the life cycle of any contemporary questing person.
Robert Fuller, GBN Global Business Network, quoted from Somebodies and Nobodies

Everyone has value.

Dignity is a halfway-house between liberty and justice.

The predatory impulse to put people down is failing us now.

Doctors are M.D.s not M.Deities.

The strongest defense is not giving offense.

We happen to live in a time when the Golden Rule is no longer optional. It's becoming mandatory. We're going to begin living up to it in the next twenty or thirty years all over the world. It's one of those things which arises everywhere simultaneously. It's in the air.

Rankism won't be eliminated over night. […] It will take 4-6 generations to change the deep hard wiring in our brains and the 21st century to grow into a dignitarian society model.

One can hold high rank and not abuse it. George Washington [Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., etc.] did not abuse his power, he led by example.

When legitimately earned and appropriately used, rank has an indispensable role to play in education. Dr. Robert Fuller, The Dignitarian University, page 5, around 2007

We love people of high rank who use it well and serve the group. I am not saying everybody is equal, we are actually radically unequal. That is no basis to subjecting them to indignity. Rank helps to make these distinctions.

It is dangerous to be an uppity Nobody.

You have to find some enlightened leader in the company who outranks the bully.

Nobodies of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our shame.

Until you name it, you don’t notice it. In the 1960s, for instance, women were constantly experiencing indignities, both personal and institutional. Then they gave it a name: sexism. And through the power of naming it, feminists broke its hold on society. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

Rankism is abuse of the power inherent in rank [...] and any kind of domination wherein "somebodies" use their position to demean and exploit "nobodies" (who have lower status). [...] The abuse of rank, which is rampant in our culture, is the source of an immense amount of unacknowledged and unnecessary suffering and organizational dysfunction. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

Status is relative. […] Nearly every “nobody” is looking for someone that he or she can feel superior to. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

All the various, seemingly disparate forms of discrimination [i.e. segregation, patriarchy, homophobia] actually have one common root – the presumption and assertion of rank to the detriment of others. Dr. Robert Fuller, The Dignitarian University, page 1, around 2007

Rankism is like racism in that although it has been around a long time, it can be disallowed and eventually overcome.
It’s been a survival technique throughout history to prey upon the weak — to enslave them or exploit them. In our culture, we no longer enslave others, but we still exploit them. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

Any organization that encourages or tolerates rankism is systematically undermining the creativity and productivity of its own people. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business leading ideas online, 13. February 2007

A dignitarian environment might mean paying employees more fairly. It might mean the kind of humility that Jim Collins wrote about in his book Good to Great (HarperBusiness, 2001) as "Level Five leadership." It might mean more transparency about salaries and about the unacceptability of firing or demoting people for speaking their mind. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business leading ideas online, 13. February 2007

Over the next half-century or so, poor nations will find ways to force the developed world to grant them comparable dignity, much as blacks and women did in the last 50 years, and as gays are doing now. In most parts of the world, it is no longer acceptable to insult the members of these groups. At some point, that will be true for any human being. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 1, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

In the present rankist environment, the loss of one’s job can be a terrible blow to one’s dignity. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 2, presented by strategy+business, February 13, 2007

Tenure is unfair to the young, much as “whites only” signs were unfair to blacks. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 2, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

It’s time to shift the focus from job security to the broader notion of dignity security, and take steps to protect dignity when, inevitably, changes occur in the particular roles and ranks we hold. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 2, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

Antidiscrimination laws were a significant step for the civil rights movement. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 2, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

Organizations are not going to become dignitarian overnight. In many of them, rankism is still below the radar. But giving it a name may help them evolve. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 3, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

Until the abuse of rank is recognized as no more legitimate than abuse based on traits like color and gender, rankism will continue to exact a toll on health, happiness, and productivity. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 3, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

A dignitarian era is coming, because, in the end, most people don’t want to live in a world in which their dignity depends on either superficial traits or rank. Since we are, all of us, once and future nobodies, it’s in our interest to make our institutions and our society less rankist and more dignitarian. Interview with Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., The Dignitarian Way, page 3, presented by strategy+business, 13. February 2007

Dignity is oblivious of relative rank, whereas pride exults in out-ranking others.
Dignity entails a shared sense of worth; pride, a sense of superiority; shame, a sense of inferiority.
Dignity is a creature of mutuality and reciprocity; pride, a feature of dominant-subordinate relationships. Robert W. Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, Vocabulary for a Dignitarian Society, PDF

Rankism is contextual. Most of the time, no matter how high up we are, we can look around and see someone of higher rank than we are. [...] a famous singer came to see the president of the United States [in the White House]. I watched as each of these extraordinarily powerful and famous men began to feel insecure around each other, clearly feeling like a nobody in comparison to the somebody they thought they were shaking hands with. Interview with Robert W. Fuller, Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

Rankism is felt as a lack of dignity. You experience your relative worthlessness; you feel you are worth less as a person when someone treats you in a rankist way. Interview with Robert W. Fuller, Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

Institutional rankism is the rankism we encounter when we deal with bureaucracies, nonprofit organizations, schools, hospitals, churches, and governments. In police states it takes the form of exploitation and oppression of the citizenry. In democracies it consists of the daily indignities of dealing with institutions whose de facto goal is self-preservation and aggrandizement rather than service. Interview with Robert W. Fuller, Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

You can't end rankism with rankism.
To actually end rankism, you have to preserve the dignity of perpetrators while offering correction. You have to protect other people's dignity as you would have them protect yours. It's like the golden rule. Interview with Robert W. Fuller, Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

It is because rankism encompasses the other -isms that I say that whoever identifies rankism and sets out to overcome it is going to lead the world in the next century. Interview with Robert W. Fuller, Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

We only hate in others – whether in individuals or whole peoples – what we cannot accept in ourselves. […] We need our enemies in order to complete ourselves. […]
As the sense of threat diminishes, we redesignate our former "enemies" as "adversaries." With the first hint of positive mutual value, "adversaries" become "rivals," a term which acknowledges each as a secret teacher of the other. Finally "rivals," recognizing their mutual dependency, come to see themselves as "partners." […]
We'll have to transcend global civil war not by allying ourselves with former enemies in the face of a new enemy, but by learning enough about our adversaries to establish forbearance for the differences that have, during these first close encounters, so scared and agitated us. Interview with Robert Fuller, A Better Game Than War. Understanding the origin of our "fear of the other" may lead us to the elimination of war, David Hoffman, Magazine In Context, The Foundations Of Peace (IC#4) pg. 18, Autumn 1983

The lens of race highlights the well-known injustices of racism. The lens of rank reveals the less well recognized indignities of rankism. [...] Rank, in itself, is not the problem. Like race, rank is just a fact of life. Rank tells us who's in charge. [...] The problem lies not with rank per se, but in rank abuse. Rankism is the principal source of man-made indignity. Interview with Robert Fuller, former president of Oberlin College, rankism and dignity researcher, Rankism: The Elephant in Professor Gates's House, 27. July 2009

Dignitarian governance does not necessarily mean giving everyone a vote on every issue, but it does mean giving everyone a voice. To ensure those voices are heard generally requires having at least some voting representatives from each of the organization’s constituencies serving at every level of its governance. This is sometimes referred to as multi-stakeholder or collaborative problem-solving. Dr. Robert Fuller, , page 14, around 2007

I think it will soon become anybody's business to be against, to be alert to any form of rankism and to disallow it. Radio audio interview with Robert W. Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, Recognizing Rankism/Global Affairs, part 3, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

Andrew Grove at Intel insists that every 20-year-old can tell him that he's wrong on anything technical. The slogan in many of the best firms in Silicon Valley companies is: The only boss is a better idea.
That's where we are all headed. We are not there yet. Radio audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

When you get power the very possession shields you from a meaningful interaction from the people over whom you hold it. They're shy around you. They won't tell you the truth. They won't tell you when you're stupid. Radio audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

The first thing that happens is when people get power they notice that they are now insulated from retribution when they abuse their power is that they indulge themselves in it. Twenty years later you've got Stalin, you have a despot. [...] Every increment of power added puts the perpetrator in a position to abuse it even more and continue to get away with it. That's in the nature of power. Radio audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

All rankism is bullying of one form or another. But you always have to either risk your own self in opposing it – being an uppity nobody – or you have to quietly organize with you a group of other nobodies to stand with you against the abuse of rank. Training ourselves to do the latter thing is the evolution of democracy. [...] We do have a recourse in this country, when officials abuse their power, we diselect them. [...] but not so in hospitals, in schools, in families, in work places. [...] Challenging rankism doesn't prove it's rankism, but it sure puts it on the defensive. Putting racism, sexism on the defensive was good enough. Radio audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

Once you get rid of rankism rank gets the honor it really deserves. It is always a sign of earned and maintained excellence. Radio audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, aired 8. May 2000

Dignity is not dependent on winning. Dignity's Apostle: My Interview With Author Robert W. Fuller, presented by Intrepid Liberal Journal, blogspot by Robert Ellmann, Saturday, 20. May 2006

Religion teaches dignity; theology sometimes promotes indignity. When Islam was first introduced it championed women’s liberation (See Huston Smith’s Religions of the World which points out that Mohammed’s wife had a very big hand in writing it). Some Islamic theologians have since interpreted it in ways that oppress women, but that’s politics operating under the guise of religion (as it does in every religion). In their core beliefs, religions have all been a powerful force for recognizing the universal and non-negotiable dignity of Man. Dignity's Apostle: My Interview With Author Robert W. Fuller, presented by Intrepid Liberal Journal, blogspot by Robert Ellmann, Saturday, 20. May 2006

Malrecognition usually consists of too little recognition.
Idolization is a rarer form, but it too can be fatal – Jackson, Presley, Monroe. Dr. Robert Fuller, robertwfuller, Twitter message, 1. January 2010

Tragically, avoiding humiliation trumps personal growth. Robert W. Fuller Ph.D., Somebodies and Nobodies. Overcoming the Abuse of Rank, pg. ?, New Society Publishers, 2003 and The Dignitarian University, page 6, around 2007

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13. Reversing the Somebody ⇔ Nobody mind set

Outgrowing poverty by The Power of Dignity
– Overcoming Poverty with the Power of Dignity

Economist Prof. Muhammad Yunus at the Chittagong University in Bangladesh, Peace Nobel Prize Laureate (2006) purports the idea of the Social Business Company [see Caring Economics by Riane Eisler].
Concluding that the traditional banking system is keeping the imbalance of poverty in place within a male dominated Islamic Bangladesh Yunus works towards a selfless business. Whereas the lending institutions refuse to give loans to the poor the founder of the Grameen Bank invests in giving rather than taking. He subsequently invented micro financing.

US president Benjamin Franklin was the first one to create microlending in 1789.

At conception Yunus stipulated a 50:50 ratio of microcredits to be given to women and men alike. Surrounded by skeptics visionary Yunus reports, "My students did not believe the 50:50 ratio male:female was attainable."
At first, the poor women were reticent to accept loans due to cultural pressures and low self esteem. The social minded banker coached them patiently for six years which helped to change their mindset. Then they were willing to assume an entrepreneurial role.

The Grameen Bank

exists since 1983.
practices selfless economy, a concept that won the Nobel Prize in 2006.
works like a caring cooperative.
gives loans to start a small business.
hands out micro-credits i.e. small loans of 35 US$ each.
gives out loans worth 100 $ million each month.
has creditors who are part owners.
has share holders who are the lenders themselves.
pays profits back as dividends to its share holders.
has encouraged poor women to overcome their timid minds for 6 years.
fulfilled its vision to give out equally shared loans to men and women alike. 50:50 ratio [status 1990]
has 8 million poor borrowers. [status 2009]
3% of the borrowers are male, 97% of the borrowers are female. [status 2009]
enjoys a repayment rate of just below 99%. [status 2009]

Poverty is not created by poor people. There is something lacking in the system that creates and perpetuates poverty. […] Poor people are Bonsai People, without a base, the Bonsai trees are stunted and cannot grow.

Humans possess selfishness but also selflessness. [Conventional] Business is based on selfishness. The concept of business is to make money. Human beings are not money making machines. […]
We normally ask a CEO how much money have we made? With Social Business, we ask: How many people have we helped?
Source: Prof. Muhammad Yunus, professor for economy, Chittagong University, founder of the Grameen Bank, Bangladesh, Nobel Prize winner (2006), lecture on Financial Services and Psychology, Sigmund Freud University (SFU), Vienna, 24. May 2009, article by John Morris, Using psychology to tackle the roots of poverty, Austrian Times, 31. May 2009

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14. Quotes on 'women embracing dignity for all'

If I could awaken the women of Asia, I could save India in a day. Mahatma Gandhi

At first, women are scared to death to try. Peer support and encouragement of Grameen Bankers helps success. […] If a woman tries, and is successful, it will snowball.
Source: Prof. Muhammad Yunus, professor for economy, Chittagong University, founder of the Grameen Bank, Bangladesh, Nobel Prize winner (2006), lecture on Financial Services and Psychology, Sigmund Freud University (SFU), Vienna, 24. May 2009, article by John Morris, Using psychology to tackle the roots of poverty, Austrian Times, 31. May 2009

The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution. Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, Op-Ed columnist, and Sheryl WuDunn, former Times correspondent, philanthropy expert, The Women’s Crusade, presented by New York Times, 23. August 2009

The world will be saved by the western woman. His Holiness the Dalai Lama, proclamation, Vancouver Peace Summit, 27.-29. September 2009

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15. Conventional Banking (Me) ⇔ Social Banking (No-me / Other)

REVERSAL of Me-BANKING PRINCIPLES – Conversion to others / aliens

Profit Maximising Business ⇔ Social Business
Reptilian Marketing ⇔ Caring Economics

Fields	Private Banking Somebodies / Haves Father Principle	Social Banking exemplified by Grameen Bank Nobodies / Have-nots Mother Principle
Ownership	Privately owned conventional banks	Collectively owned social banks
Ownership	Somebodies – a few rich men	Nobodies – many of the poorest women
Business strategies	Profit maximising for self [Money – matter]	People business / caring economics for others [ Meaning – soul]
Business strategies	Borrowing money from outside / government bailouts [Business as usual]	Self-sustenance, self-sufficiency [Banking phenomen]
Business strategies	Big credits extended to haves [Ocean tanker]	Microloans to have-nots [Dingy boats on shallow waters]
Customer / borrower policy	Mistrust, digging in the past (credit histories)	Trust in future developments
Customer / borrower policy	Collaterals	No credit guarantees requested
Customer / borrower policy	Engaging encashment lawyers	No encashment lawyers needed
Customer / borrower policy	Business plan required from literate mainly male borrowers	No business plan required from unexperienced, uneducated borrowers
Infrastructure	Stationary bank buildings in cities receive customers.	Traveling bank agents go into the villages to address the poorest.
Philosophy – Principles	Debt consciousness Materialism Belief in deficiency / shortage	Trust consciousness Dignitarian approach Belief in abundance
Philosophy – Principles	Classism, power gap, poverty, debt system	Inclusivity, ending of poverty by 2030
Idea of man	One-dimensional money making human being	Multidimensional complete human being
Ruling – law	Deregulation / existing bank laws	Creating new banking laws / renewed legislation

The less you have the more attractive you are.
If you have nothing you get the highest priority.
M. Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank

Sources

Video: Excerpted from video presentation by Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, founder of The Grameen Bank, Creating a World Without Poverty, explaining the "social business" model addressing social issues through entrepreneurship, mainly chapter 4, 5:55 minutes (minute 10:11-16:00) presented by Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, CA, non-profit educational organization, and Link TV, recorded by ForaTV, 1:02:52 minutes duration, 1. May 2008
Video: Video lecture by Muhammad Yunus, founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Creating a World Without Poverty, presented by Committee on Global Thought (CGT), Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), co-sponsored by Center for the Study of Human Rights, Center for the Humanities, filmed by UChannel, 27. January 2009, YouTube film, 1:11:00 duration, 19. February 2009
Book Englisch/German: Muhammad Yunus, Creating a World Without Poverty. Social Business and the Future of Capitalism, Perseus Books Group, 7. January 2008

Correspondences

Crisis Response – 4 Dimensions of Systems Change – Otto Scharmer
Matrix of Crisis Response –
Low Ground ⇔ High Ground Interpretations of Darwin's Evolutionary Theory
Adolescent Self-interest-driven Reduced Darwinism (1859) ⇔ Darwinism rediscovered based on Mature Mutuality (2007)

Similar providers
- Kiva.org
- Martin Burt starts microcredit in Paraguay, YouTube film, 7:39 minutes duration, April 2007
Foundation Paraguay has supported 30,000 micro-entrepreneurs who have created 19,000 new jobs. Its Junior Achievement program has helped build the entrepreneurial skills of more than 50,000 young people.
- Small U.S. businesses thrive with Ethiopian woman's help, CNN.com/Heroes, 26. June 2009
- Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, Op-Ed columnist, and Sheryl WuDunn, former Times correspondent, philanthropy expert, authors of Half the Sky. Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, publisher Alfred A. Knopf, September 2009 on The Women’s Crusade, presented by New York Times, 23. August 2009
4 Levels of Response in 4 Dimensions of Systems Change

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16. Changeover

Big scary fish – Emergent-culture.com

The old
profit maximizing
exclusive
dominating
corrupted system
is declining.

Big self-organizing fish – Emergent-culture.com

The new
holistic, regenerative
caring, social
equality based/dignitarian
inclusive system
is rising.

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17. Dignity outweighs wealth

Jacqueline Novogratz, an idealist young woman from Wall Street, went on 'a mission to save the third world'.
The poor women from The Ivory Coast sent her away saying:

Africans don't want saving – thank you very much – at least not by you.

This taught her the humility to start listening.
In Kenya she found a bakery run by a classic charity organization which occupied twenty prostitutes who in fact were unwed mothers struggling to survive.
There Novogratz began to understand the power of language.
Her insight is:

What we call people so often distances them from us and makes them little.

Jacqueline Novogratz learned three lessons from the Africans:

Dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth. [...]
People want to be seen and heard and given the dignity of choice.
Traditional charity and aid alone will not solve the problems of poverty.
Markets alone will also not solve the problems of poverty.
[...] As people get wealthier they also get healthier.
Video presentation by Jacqueline Novogratz, pioneer of “market-based” philanthropy, founder of Acumen raising 20,000 jobs, Tackling poverty with "patient capital", TED Talks, starting at minute 3:38, 18:35 minutes duration, filmed June 2007, posted August 2007

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18. Misconceiving human dignity with outer wealth

Real poverty lives within. Poverty […] can include a lack of clean water, adequate food, shelter, clothing and productive employment. […] At its core we [the westerners] hold poverty as a misconception that inner human dignity equates with outer material wealth. […] Paradoxically, because our own inner dignity is built upon our wealth we are ill equipped to help the world’s poor develop its own dignity. Even at low material living standards we can offer […] and foster inner dignity among the material poor. But those in the developed world actually perpetuate the suffering of poverty if we don’t change our own perception that human dignity is not available at all levels of material progress. They are us.
Talk between Martin Burt, founder and CEO of Fundacion Paraguaya and Ken Wilber, integral philosopher, The End of Poverty, 33 minutes duration, January 2010

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19. Dignity culture ⇔ Pride culture

Quotations	Meaning
I'm not everyone!	Pride, Fear of humiliation
Well, that's true – you're certainly not everyone, and everyone is everyone.	Dignified humility, Valuation of the individual by appreciating all

This was supposed to be fun. That's all it ever was.	Ego-centered, not connected to the whole
Find the joy in your life, Edward.	Visionquest

I'm deeply proud that this man found it worth his while to know me.	Gratefulness pervaded by pride
He saved my life. And he knew it before I did.	Pride transcended by gratefulness and reverence

Legend:

Billionaire Edward Cole (PRIDE – FUN – ME ⇔ YOU – THEM STRUCTURE)
Mechanic Carter Chambers (DIGNITY – JOY – WE CULTURE)

Quoted from the movie The Bucket List,
YouTube clip The Bucket List – Ending, Memorable quotes from The Bucket List, 2007

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20. Healing story – The reconciliation between Hercules and Hydra

The Hero Hercules and the multi-headed Hydra of Lerna

Before embarking on his mission to terminate the terrorizing nineheaded watersnake Hydra, the Greek hero Hercules consulted with his mentor, the centaur Chiron. He advised him:

Not common means will serve here; destroy one head, two grow apace. So be aware:
We rise by kneeling,
we conquer by surrendering,
we gain by giving up.

Hercules' linear mindset was puzzled. Unversed in how to apply such paradox counsel he dismissed them first.

He invested into traditional war making by sending a flood of arrows into Hydra's cavern. This strategy had failed, since the sea-snake did not emerge.
Next Hercules dipped his arrows in burning pitch, to rain them into the cavern of perpetual night, the entrance to the Underworld. The monster furiously appeared with nine angry heads breathing flame.
Whenever the hero, wearing a rag over his mouth to protect him from the fuming breath – coming from above and from outside – cut off one of its heads with his sword two new heads instantly grew from the bleeding stump.

Exposed to the known means of sheer violent force, willpower, or intellect, Hydra had grown stronger. It could not be terminated with self-righteous supremacy or the mindset of 'We against Them'.

Only when Hercules started to faint from exhaustion, he was finally willing to change his approach following Chiron's advice after all.
He knelt right into the mud with Hydra. From a level headed position he grasped one of Hydra's heads under the mud with his bare hands and pulled it out above him. Suspended in mid-air and plain daylight it withered away and dropped off by the wind. And so he continued with exposing the other heads following the humble path. Made conscious and owned by both sides the heads were no more danger. His nephew Iolaus lit a torch and burned the stumps after the heads were gone, which prevented them from growing back. Hydra's destructive force was defeated, when the ninth head, still fiercely hissing, was severed.

Hercules found this mystically immortal head to be a jewel and sheltered it beneath a rock. So the victory was won. The sea-monster had taught him a lesson and he had taken it well.

You can't end rankism with rankism.
To actually end rankism, you have to preserve the dignity of perpetrators while offering correction. You have to protect other people's dignity as you would have them protect yours. It's like the golden rule. Interview with Robert W. Fuller, Standing Up to RANKISM, Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive, Issue 35

We have met the enemy, and he is us. Walt Kelly, comic writer, character Pogo

The psychological rule says that when an inner situation is not made conscious, it happens outside, as fate. That is to say, when the individual remains undivided and does not become conscious of his inner opposite, the world must per force act out the conflict and be torn into opposing halves. Carl Gustav Jung, Collected Works 9ii, par. 126, Christ, A Symbol of the Self

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21. The dichotomy between Somebody ∞ Nobody ⇔ Everything ∞ Nothing

Conversation between an ordinary guy and a TV known nameless futurist
Hey, you're somebody.
No, I'm nobody.
I saw you on TV.
What's your name?
My name is Watts Wacker.
You're right. You are a nobody.

><)))°> <°(((><
Source: Watts Wacker, US American futurist, Watts Wacker, Speaker Demo Video,
Google video, minute 0:44, 8:46 minutes duration, December 2008

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21.1 I am a nobody

I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
Then there's a pair of us – don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.
Emily Dickinson

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21.2 Void ⇔ Allness

God is nothingness that seeks to become everything.
Jakob Boehme (1575-1624) German mystic, theologian

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21.3 The fear of nothingness ⇔ the denial of allness

Out of fear of becoming nothing, consciousness denies
its only reality that it is everything –
the infinite, everlasting Allness out of which existence itself arises.
Dr. David R. Hawkins, The Eye of the I, S. 373

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22. Quotations on (Human) Dignity / Menschenwürde

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22.1 Quotes from different sources

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, presented 10. December 1948

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. Article 12, Declaration of Human Rights

Live your life with dignity. Dr. David R. Hawkins, audio interview, web radio station Beyond the Ordinary

To deliberately undermine the dignity of one's leaders, is self destructive. Dr. David R. Hawkins, Sedona Seminar What is Truth? The Absolute, 21. July 2007

What's happening with our economy is a reorganization based on values other than just making money. The economy is really based on greed: every product is an effort to make money. And making money doesn't infer anything having to do with responsibility. Now, we're bringing up responsibility. As citizens, we're asking, "Should these companies reveal what they know?" So there's disorganization based on a current lack of clarity about values. Interview with David R. Hawkins, MD, PhD, presented by magazine Holistic Networker, Gina Mazza, 17. June 2009

I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose,
- human liberty as the source of national action,
- the human heart as the source of national compassion, and
- in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) 35th US American President (1961-63)

The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others. Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961) Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-1961)

Your position never gives you the right to command. It only imposes on you the duty of so living your life that others may receive your orders without being humiliated. Dag Hammarskjöld (1905-1961) Swedish statesman, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1953-1961)

Brute force, no matter how strongly applied, can never subdue the basic desire for freedom and dignity. Mahatma Gandhi

In every aspect of our lives, we are always asking ourselves, How am I of value? What is my worth? Yet I believe that worthiness is our birthright. Oprah Winfrey

Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, who had abolished slavery

Humility is the ability to give up your pride and still retain your dignity. Vanna Bonta

When all this started, I asked myself, 'Am I going to withdraw from the world, like most people do, or am I going to live?' I decided I am going to live – or at least try to live – the way I want, with dignity, with courage, with humor, with composure. Mitch Albom

I'm tired of all this isolation. I'm tired of this triviality of life. I want real human emotion. I want to feel the natural spontaneity of life, the beautiful randomness and rawness that is life. I want to see you and I want you to see me and I want to bask in that moment of humility and intimacy and the acknowledgement of your dignity and my humanity, even if it is for a second. That'll be enough. Kate Miller

Scrubbing floors and emptying bedpans has as much dignity as the presidency. Richard M. Nixon, president of USA

Pride [as a function of relative rank] goeth before a fall. Saying [international]
- It was with unrivaled pride that we saw the world. We were somebody. Nazi SS officer, reminiscing about German military victories in the early years of World War II

Dignity is like a perfume; those who use it are scarcely conscious of it. Christina of Sweden (1626-1689) Queen of Sweden (1632-1654)

Human dignity has gleamed only now and then and here and there, in lonely splendor, throughout the ages, a hope of the better men, never an achievement of the majority. James Thurber (1894-1961)

Where is there dignity unless there is honesty? Cicero (106 BC-43 BC)

Be mild with the mild, shrewd with the crafty, confiding to the honest, rough to the ruffian, and a thunderbolt to the liar. But in all this, never be unmindful of your own dignity. John Brown, abolitionist

Remember this – that there is a proper dignity and proportion to be observed in the performance of every act of life. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121AD-180AD)

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself. Rabbi Abraham Heschel

Let not a man guard his dignity, but let his dignity guard him. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

It is not wealth one asks for, but just enough to preserve one's dignity, to work unhampered, to be generous, frank and independent. W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965) Of Human Bondage, 1915

There is a healthful hardiness about real dignity that never dreads contact and communion with others, however humble. Washington Irving (1783-1859)

All that passes is raised to the dignity of expression; all that happens is raised to the dignity of meaning. Everything is either symbol or parable. Paul Claudel

Those who insist on the dignity of their office show they have not deserved it. Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658) Spanish philosopher and writer, leading Spanish exponent of conceptism

Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them. Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) Ancient Greek philosopher, scientist and physician

When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out. Abbie Hoffman (1936-1989) US American radical activist, writer

Education can give you a skill, but a liberal education can give you dignity. Ellen Key (1849-1926) Swedish writer

I would say that the surest measure of a man's or a woman's maturity is the harmony, style, joy, and dignity he creates in his marriage, and the pleasure and inspiration he provides for his spouse. Benjamin Spock (1903-1998) US American pediatrician, author

I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. Nelson Mandela, 27 years imprisoned during apartheid, President of South Africa, Long Walk to Freedom, autobiography

Prison and the authorities conspire to rob each man of his dignity. In and of itself, that assured that I would survive, for any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose because I will not part with it at any price or under any pressure. Nelson Mandela, 27 years imprisoned during apartheid, President of South Africa, Long Walk to Freedom, autobiography

I don't share your opinion, but I will until my last breath to fight that you express your opinion freely allowed. Voltaire

Since men are born tabula rasa, both cognitively and morally, a rational man regards strangers as innocent until proved guilty, and grants them that initial good will in the name of their human potential. After that, he judges them according to the moral character they have actualized. If he finds them guilty of major evils, his good will is replaced by contempt and moral condemnation. (If one values human life, one cannot value its destroyers.) If he finds them to be virtuous, he grants them personal, individual value and appreciation, in proportion to their virtues. Ayn Rand, The Virtue of Selfishness, “The Ethics of Emergencies”, interviewed by Alvin Toffler, pg. 71, 1962

True dignity is never gained by place, and never lost when honors are withdrawn. Philip Massinger (1583-1640) English dramatist

The Silver rule [reciprocity]

Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.
子貢問曰、有一言、而可以終身行之者乎。子曰、其恕乎、己所不欲、勿施於人 Confucius

I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere. Barack Obama, 44th US president, President Obama Addresses Muslim World in Cairo, Washington Post, Thursday, 4. June 2009

Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it. Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; progress must be shared. [Applause] Historic address to the Muslim world by Barack Obama, 44th US president, Remarks by the President on a New Beginning, Cairo University, Egypt, presented by Whitehouse.gov, Thursday, 4. June 2009

When I was liberated in 1945, April 11, by the American army, somehow many of us were convinced that at least one lesson will have been learned – that never again will there be war; that hatred is not an option, that racism is stupid; and the will to conquer other people's minds or territories or aspirations, that will is meaningless.
I was so hopeful. Paradoxically, I was so hopeful then. Many of us were, although we had the right to give up on humanity, to give up on culture, to give up on education, to give up on the possibility of living one's life with dignity in a world that has no place for dignity. Video statement by Elie Wiesel (*1928) Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Peace Nobel Laureate, Holocaust survivor, at the end of a historic visit of Gedenkstätte Buchenwald (forced labor camp memorial) with President Barack Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany, presented by TV station MSNBC, 9:41 minutes duration, written transcript, 5. June 2009

To expand freedom to more people, we cannot accept that freedom does not belong to all people. We cannot allow oppression, defined and justified by religion or tribe to replace that of ideology. We have a responsibility to address conditions everywhere that undermine the potential of boys and girls and men and women that sap human dignity and threaten global progress. Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, Keynote Address at the Atlantic Council Gala Dinner, Adlon Hotel, Berlin, Germany, 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, 8. November 2009

Dignity is a useless concept above and beyond human rights or human autonomy. Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, on The stuff of Steven Pinker: Language, dignity, and thought, presented by The Science Network (TSN), host Roger Bingham, minute 50:15, 1:15:00 duration, Interview transcript, PDF, 10. September 2008

The problem is that "dignity" is a squishy, subjective notion, hardly up to the heavyweight moral demands assigned to it. Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, The Stupidity of Dignity, The New Republic, 28. May 2008

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22.2 Quotes – Human Rights and Human Values

'Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home – so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world. Eleanor Roosevelt, co-author of Universal Declaration of Human Rights''

President of China Jiang Zemin: Do you the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights believe religion is important in this world given the advancement of scientific knowledge?
Mary Robinson: While there is indeed scientific advancement, religion and spirituality are extraordinarily important in our world and will continue to be.
[President Jiang did not like the second part of the answer]. Mary Robinson, Global elders, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, bbc.co.uk, September 1998

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22.3 Power ⇔ Force

It is excellent to have a giant's strength;
but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
English poet and playwright, Measure for Measure (II, ii)

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22.4 Quotes on Pride and Shame ⇔ Dignity

Dignity is oblivious of relative rank, whereas pride exults in out-ranking others.
Dignity entails a shared sense of worth; pride, a sense of superiority; shame, a sense of inferiority.
Dignity is a creature of mutuality and reciprocity; pride, a feature of dominant-subordinate relationships. Robert Fuller, dignity researcher, Vocabulary for a Dignitarian Society, pg. 2 (pdf)

Then “true pride” is identified as the dignity that inheres in someone whose place in society is secure, and “false pride” is understood as the compensatory self-inflation originating in the insecurity that invariably accompanies an assertion of relative superiority. Robert Fuller, dignity researcher, Vocabulary for a Dignitarian Society, pg. 2 (pdf)

Pride is an artifact of a stratified society – one in which rank carries the right to marginalize, indignify, or exploit those of lower rank. The right to deny dignity, to non-citizens and to second-class citizens alike, is a residue of a predatory strategy, that, for millennia, has co-existed alongside a dignitarian strategy, but is now, in an epochal transformation, losing out to its dignitarian alternative. Robert Fuller, dignity researcher, Vocabulary for a Dignitarian Society, pg. 3 (pdf)

The gift of faith instantaneously became built into me. My pride had paid a very high price. In despair, I cried out, "Now I am willing to do anything. If there is a God, will he show himself!" And he did. Bill Wilson, Language of the Heart. Bill W's Grapevine Writings, Part III, pg. 246, Grapevine, October 1988

It was with unrivaled pride that we saw the world. We were somebody. Nazi SS officer, reminiscing about German military victories in the early years of World War II

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22.5 True dignity

True dignity abides with him alone
Who, in the silent hour of inward thought,
can still suspect, and still revere himself
In lowliness of heart.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
English poet, Lines Left Upon a Seat in a Yew Tree

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23. Links on Human dignity and Human rights / Menschenwürde

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23.1 Literature

Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Somebodies and Nobodies. Overcoming the Abuse of Rank, New Society Publishers, 2003
Robert Fuller, Ph.D., All Rise. Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity, Berrett Koehler, 2006
Robert Fuller, Ph.D. and Pamela Gerloff, Dignity for All. How to Create a World Without Rankism, Berrett-Koehler, 2008
Dr. Julie Ann Wambach, Battles between Somebodies and Nobodies: Combat Abuse of Rank at Work and at Home, Brookside Press, 1. October 2008
Peter Spiegel – Bio, founder and leader of Genisis-Institute.org and Roger Richter, The Power of Dignity – Die Macht der Würde. The Grameen Family, editor Hans Reitz, preface by Muhammad Yunus, German/Englisch, J. Kamphausen Verlag, Bielefeld, December 2008
Richard Wilkinson, Kate Pickett, bestseller authors of The Spirit Level. Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better after 30 years of sociological research, US American issue The Spirit Level. Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, Bloomsbury Press, 22. December 2009
Almost every modern social problem—ill-health, violence, lack of community life, teen pregnancy, mental illness—is more likely to occur in a less-equal society. This is why US America, by most measures the richest country on earth, has per capita shorter average lifespan, more cases of mental illness, more obesity, and more of its citizens in prison than any other developed nation.

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23.2 Web links

Wikipedia entries Blasphemy indignity offered to God in words, writing, or signs; impiously irreverent words or signs addressed to, or used in reference to, God; speaking evil of God; also, the act of claiming the attributes or prerogatives of deity. When used generally in statutes or at common law, blasphemy is the use of irreverent words or signs in reference to the Supreme Being in such a way as to produce scandal or provoke violence.
Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy, Rankism
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly of the United Nations resolution 217 A (III), 10. December 1948
Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, Humiliationstudies.org
Robert W. Fuller, Twitter account
Robert W. Fuller, Standing Up to RANKISM, interviewed by Pamela Gerloff, Project on Civic Reflection, More Than Money Archive Issue 35
The way we live now. A hard-hitting study of the social effects of inequality has profound implications, presented by The Guardian, UK, Lynsey Hanley, 14. March 2009
The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better – Fitter, happier, more productive, presented by TimesHigherEducation.uk, John Welshman, 21. May 2009
Interview with Robert Fuller, former president of Oberlin College, rankism and dignity researcher, Rankism: The Elephant in Professor Gates' House, 27. July 2009
Blog entry by Robert Fuller, former president of Oberlin College, rankism and dignity researcher, Must Love End?, presented by PsychologyToday.com, 20. September 2009
Women on the frontline for human rights, presented by Amnesty International, ReliefWeb.int, 10. December 2009
Blog entry by Robert Fuller, former president of Oberlin College, rankism and dignity researcher, What is rankism and why do we “do” it? Rankism is what Somebodies do to people they take for nobodies., presented by Psychology Today.com, 17. February 2010

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23.3 Audio and video links

Video interview with different educators on Bullying, presented by Massachusetts School of Law, host Diane Sullivan, Google video, 54:27 minutes duration, 26. Juni 2006
Bullying is a conditioned learned behavior. [...] It is solvable.
Video interview and classroom presentation by Jane Elliott, courageous teacher, A Classroom Divided, Google video, 55:16 minutes duration, posted 21. June 2007
Elliott conducted a widely know classroom experiment to exemplify Racism "Blu-eyed vs. brown-eyed'', town Iowa, 1968
Video presentation by Mary Robinson, former first female president of Ireland, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Global Elder, Founder and Chair of Realizing Rights on Who are we?, on the origin of Human Rights, presented by Big Think, 8:19 minutes duration, aired 28. November 2007
Video presentation by Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, founder of The Grameen Bank, Creating a World Without Poverty, YouTube excerpted clip, 5 minutes explaining the "social business" model addressing social issues through entrepreneurship, presented by Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, CA, non-profit educational organization, and Link TV, recorded by ForaTV, 1:02:52 minutes duration, 1. May 2008
Video interview with Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, author of The Stuff of Thought. Language as a Window into Human Nature, Viking Adult, 1st edition, 11. September 2007, on The stuff of Steven Pinker: Language, dignity, and thought, presented by The Science Network (TSN), The Science Studio, host Roger Bingham, dignity topic: minute 49:55, 1:15:00 duration, 10. September 2008
Video short documentary on a dignitarian community model in Southside Regional Jail, Emporia, Virginia, USA, lowering recidivism rate from 50 to 5%, saving 3/4th of the costs invested otherwise, Community Model in Corrections®, YouTube film, 5:13 minutes duration, posted 13. February 2009
Video lecture by Muhammad Yunus, founder and managing director of Grameen Bank, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Creating a World Without Poverty, presented by Committee on Global Thought (CGT), Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), co-sponsored by Center for the Study of Human Rights, Center for the Humanities, filmed by UChannel, 27. January 2009, YouTube film, 1:11:00 duration, 19. February 2009
TV interview with Dr. Arash Hejazi, physician, translator, journalist, human rights defender, studying in England, The man who tried to save Neda, presented by BBC UK, 19:01 minutes duration, aired Thursday, 25. June 2009
The death of the female student Neda Soltan (26) attending a protest march in Tehran after Iranian elections on the streets became a stand-out image worldwide. Dr. Arash Hejazi, studying in England, holding up human rights tried to rescue Neda's life. Giving his testimony as an eyewitness on BBC will put his life in jeopardy.-
Note: Neda Soltan is alive and went into exile in Germany due to persecution in Iran.

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23.4 Audio and video links with Dr. Robert W. Fuller

Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Dignity For All, Youtube Playlist of Robert Fuller's interviews

Radio audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D. Introduction – What is Rankism?, part 1, presented by radio station KPFA, Berkeley, CA, via QuickTime Player, 323K, aired 8. May 2000
- Somebodies and Nobodies, part 2, 318K
- Recognizing Rankism/Global Affairs, part 3, 246K
- Caller 1 – Patriarchal Society, part 4, 89K
- Caller 2 – Rankism vs. Classism, part 5, 84K
- Opposing Rankism/Education/PCness, part 6, 263K
- Seeking Recognition, part 7, 205K
- Caller 3 – Confronting Rankism, part 8, 199K
- Rankism on the Defensive, part 9, 302K
- Callers 4 and 5 – Why do we Abuse Power?, part 10, 342K
Video interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., activist, presidential advisor, Talk to America, Washington D.C., host Mary Tillotson, 7. April 2003
Bill Clinton regrets most to have missed to stop the Rwandan genocide by military intervention.
George H. W. Bush's decision to send troops to Somalia ended the famine in the late 80ties/early 90ties and saved 0.5-1 million lives.
After 4 years of indecision NATO and US troops stopped the genocide in Bosnia.
Video presentation by Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Dignitarian Society: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank, 57th Annual Conference on World Affairs, sponsored by The University of Colorado at Boulder, moderator John Steiner, Thomas Lofstrom / ECS, UMC Center Ballroom, 1:59:57 duration, 5. April 2005
Disempowering rank / power differences are: anti-semitism, racism, sexism, ageism, ablebodism, homophobia
Video presentation by Robert Fuller, Ph.D., activist, Patient Revolution: Human Rights Past and Future, SALT talk, sponsored by The Long Now Foundation, Fort Mason Conference Center, San Francisco, 1 hour 1:31 minutes duration, 12. August 2005
Video presentation by Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Breakingranks.net, The need for a dignity movement, presenting the book All rise, part 1 Google video, Boulder Bookstore, 13. July 2006, presented by Free Speech TV, 15:01 minutes duration, posted 6. October 2006
- The need for a dignity movement, part 2 Google video, 12 of 22:22 minutes duration, posted 7. October 2006
Audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Rank and Dignity "rankism" and the politics of dignity, KQED web radio station, host Michael Krasny, Google video, 51:28 minutes duration, 18. July 2006
Video presentation by Robert Fuller, Ph.D., dignity researcher, activist, All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies and the Politics of Dignity, Series produced and presented by Microsoft Research, requires Internet Explorer to view, 1:13:26 runtime, aired 20. July 2006
Video presentation by Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Media Watch: Rankism on the example of Don Imus' fall, presented by Linkmedia, YouTube film, 4:34 minutes duration, posted 17. April 2007
"The next step of democracy is the dignitarian approach. Obama, 44th US president, heralds the politics of dignity. Belligerence and superiority will be replaced by human (not white/male or black/female) dignity."
It always takes the mobilization counterveiling power to stop one of these systemic types of abuse.
Video interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., On Obama's Race Speech, presented by University of California (#15210), Santa Barbara, host Thomas Scheff, Professor Emeritus, UCSB, May 2008, YouTube film, 10:01 minutes duration, posted 13. July 2008
Audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Nobody's a Nobody: Renouncing Rankism, Defending Dignity, MP3, presented by web radio station A World of Possibilities.org The Mainstream Media Project, host Mark Sommer, 55:00 minutes duration, downloadable ITunes, 9. February 2008
Video interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Politics of Dignity, presented by University of California Television (#15210), UCSB Professor Thomas Scheff and his students, Santa Barbara, YouTube film, 55:31 minutes duration, 11. March 2008, posted 20. Oktober 2008
- 2nd source: Politics of Dignity, (#15210) first aired 11. March 2008
- Audio version Politics of Dignity
Audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D. on Rankism: The Unethical Response, New York Society for Ethical Culture, presented by WBAI broadcast, Ethics on the Air, hosts Andra Miller and Dr. Phyllis Harrison-Ross, 28. March 2008
Audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Toward a Dignitarian World, presented by web radio station New Dimensions, Program # 3271, host Michael Toms, Real Audio, 1 hour duration, 11. August 2008
Audio interview with Robert Fuller, Ph.D., Politics of Dignity, presented by Great speeches and interviews, mp3, 55:25 minutes duration, Saturday, 17. January 2009

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23.5 Audio und Videolinks (engl.) – Richard Wilkinson and Kate Picket, Equality trust

30 year long studies on Social Inequality, status insecurity and competition, Nottingham UK, published in The Spirit Level. Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, termed the most important book of the year 2009
The Spirit Level slides, Powerpoint presentation for download – The Spirit Level – slides from The Equality Trust

Audio presentation by Professor Richard Wilkinson, retired social epidemiologist, University of Nottingham, UK, and Professor Kate Pickett, epidemiologist, University of York, UK, RSA lunchtime lecture MP3, 6. March 2009
Video presentation by Professor Richard Wilkinson, retired social epidemiologist, University of Nottingham, UK, 'Capitalism Isn't Working', LEAP conference, Birkbeck College, London, 25. April 2009
- Inequality and racism, YouTube film, 1:52 minutes duration, 5. May 2009
- Envisioning a new society, YouTube film, 1:43 minutes duration, posted 6. May 2009
Video presentation by Professor Richard Wilkinson, Institute of Education, London, Saturday, 13. June 2009, YouTube, posted 18. June 2009
- Address at the Compass 'No Turning Back conference', part 1 of 2, starting minute 4:29, 9:45 minutes duration
- Address at the Compass 'No Turning Back conference', part 2 of 2, 5:32 minutes duration
Video presentation by Professor Richard Wilkinson, LEAP conference, Birkbeck College, London, 25. April 2009, YouTube film, posted 7. August 2009
'Capitalism Isn't working.'; 'Status competition leads to destruction of the planet.'
- Part 1 of, 9:10 minutes duration
- Part 2 of, 10:07 minutes duration
- Part 3 of, 9:50 minutes duration
- Part 4 of, 7:43 minutes duration
- Part 5 of, 3:39 minutes duration
Video interview with Richard Wilkinson and Professor Kate Pickett, epidemiologist, University of York, UK, bestseller authors of The Spirit Level. Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, 30 years of sociological research, The Spirit Level why more equal societies almost always do better, interviewer Owen Metcalfe, Associate Director of the Institute of Public Health, Ireland (IPH), YouTube film, 6:36 minutes duration, posted 8. June 2009
Video interview with Professor Richard Wilkinson, Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, Equality trust, presented by TalkingStick.TV, YouTube film, 29:12 minutes duration, posted 14. January 2010
Audio interview with Professor Richard Wilkinson on Does Income Inequality Hurt Countries?, presented by The Young Turks Interviews, 6:46 minutes duration, 15. January 2010
Video interview with Professor Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, on Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, recorded by TalkingStick.TV, YouTube film, 8. January 2010, Hogness Auditorium, University of Washington, YouTube film, 1:30:14 duration, posted 23. January 2010
Video presentation/interview with Professor Kate Pickett, epidemiologist, University of York, UK, The need greater equality, presented by Think Big, 18:57 minutes duration, aired 28. January 2010
(3 Things Economics Can’t Solve (3:19) – Can an Unequal Society Become Sustainable? (5:47) – Anxiety Shape Society? (3:56) – Inequality Is Bad for Your Health (3:39)
Video interview with Richard Wilkinson and Professor Kate Pickett, epidemiologist, University of York, UK, referring to their book The Spirit Level, presented by Bloomsbury Press, YouTube film, 3:08 minutes duration, posted 3. February 2010
Video lecture (1 hour) by Richard Wilkinson and Professor Kate Pickett, epidemiologist, University of York, UK, produced by Media Education, February 2009
- Inequality: The enemy between us?, The Background, part 1 of 3, 11:37 minutes duration
- Inequality: The enemy between us?, The Evidence, part 2 of 3, 13:34 minutes duration
- Inequality: The enemy between us?, Explanations, part 3 of 3, 35:19 minutes duration

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23.6 Audio and video links (German) on Menschenwürde / Human dignity

Video Interview mit Muhammad Yunus, Professor für Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Bangladesch, Friedensnobelpreisträger, Philosophie der Kreditgebung, präsentiert vom Schweizer TV-Sender SF1, Programm Sternstunde Philosophie, Gastgeber Roger de Weck, Sendetermin 6. Januar 2008, YouTube Film, 56:50 Minuten Dauer, eingestellt 18. August 2008
Hörfunkpräsentation M wie Menschenrechte – ein Grundkurs, Bayerischer Rundfunk BR, Judith Schnaubelt, ARDMediathek.de, 44:43 Minuten Dauer, eingestellt 1. Dezember 2008
Rückblick auf 60 Jahre des internationalen Bekenntnis Allgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte durch die Vereinten Nationen am 10. Dezember 1948
Audio interview with Elfriede Ammann on Wuerdekultur – eine Bewegung kommt nach Deutschland, [Dignity culture – A Movement comes to Germany], presented by web radio station Blogtalkradio PowerCoaching, host Anja Jeffries, 30 minutes duration, 13. January 2010

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23.7 Internal Links

Wiki

Hawkins

¹ Positioning human dignity first order in the Constitution declares it to be one of the most important inviolabe rights. See also the Constitutions of Finland, Portugal and South Africa. ⇑

² Everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected.
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Section 10, 11. October 1996 ⇑

³ Making Corporate Gender Inequality Illegal ⇑

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Info

Impressum

Nutzungsbedingungen

Übersicht

Linksammlung

Portale

Dignity – Human dignity – The Dignitarian Movement

1. Historic Traces of Dignity

2. Liberty – Equality – Fraternity

3. Dignity consciousness in companies

4. Afflicted Emotions and Human dignity

5. The threshold between pride and Integrity

6. Women's leadership superseding men's leadership

7. Effecting female leadership

8. Four developmental stages

9. Moving into dignity politics

10. It All Depends on the Way You Look At Things

11. Rankism and humiliation ⇔ "Dignity for all" – Robert W. Fuller Ph.D.

12. Quotes on Dignity ⇔ Rankism by Robert W. Fuller Ph.D.

13. Reversing the Somebody ⇔ Nobody mind set

14. Quotes on 'women embracing dignity for all'

15. Conventional Banking (Me) ⇔ Social Banking (No-me / Other)

16. Changeover

17. Dignity outweighs wealth

18. Misconceiving human dignity with outer wealth

19. Dignity culture ⇔ Pride culture

20. Healing story – The reconciliation between Hercules and Hydra

21. The dichotomy between Somebody ∞ Nobody ⇔ Everything ∞ Nothing

21.1 I am a nobody

21.2 Void ⇔ Allness

21.3 The fear of nothingness ⇔ the denial of allness

22. Quotations on (Human) Dignity / Menschenwürde

22.1 Quotes from different sources

22.2 Quotes – Human Rights and Human Values

22.3 Power ⇔ Force

22.4 Quotes on Pride and Shame ⇔ Dignity

22.5 True dignity

23. Links on Human dignity and Human rights / Menschenwürde

23.1 Literature

23.2 Web links

23.3 Audio and video links

23.4 Audio and video links with Dr. Robert W. Fuller

23.5 Audio und Videolinks (engl.) – Richard Wilkinson and Kate Picket, Equality trust

23.6 Audio and video links (German) on Menschenwürde / Human dignity

23.7 Internal Links