The awful rise of ‘virtue signalling’ (2018)

Virtue signaling has real consequences because it typically involves majority groups parachuting into terrain about which they know nothing and using their disproportionate influence to distort conversations that are already happening in that space.

I’m convinced that progressive virtue signaling in 2020 set the cause of police reform back a decade. Having lived in downtown Atlanta, Baltimore, and Wilmington, I knew that voters in those cities were skittish about crime. These are the moms who show up every year to vote in municipal elections. When Larry Hogan sent the Maryland national guard in to quell rioting in Baltimore after Freddie Gray’s death, his approval rating in the overwhelmingly Black and Democrat city shot up over 70%. Police reform only happens in these communities when voters feel their kids are safe.

In the summer of 2020, however, you had people who had never paid any attention to policing or racial justice issues before egging on riots and amplifying some of the stupidest far left ideas. These were people who didn’t live in these communities, had no understanding of the politics in these cities, and had no skin in the game anyway. The result was predictable: homicides skyrocketed, citizens of these cities freaked out, and police budgets are bigger than ever. Atlanta’s previously popular mayor (who had never really supported defund or similar messaging but got painted as not doing enough in response to rising crime) bowed out and didn’t run for re-election. Progressive candidates got hammered in elections like in NYC. The mayor of SF is throwing the city’s DA under the bus. It’s a damn mess.

> There was a time in the distant past when people thought you could only be virtuous by doing things: by helping the blind man across the road […] These things involve effort and self-sacrifice.

Or if that was too much effort you could just show up at church and complain about the heathens and their wicked ways.

Seems to me that what the author is saying is a new phenomenon is actually as old as civilisation.

I think the class warfare aspect of this stuff isn't discussed enough. People also want to differentiate themselves from other classes in some way. These days everyone has money and owns the latest iPhone and can afford nice clothes, so it is a lot harder than it used to be. This is why the concept of "upper class ideas" has surfaced. It is important that these ideas be strange enough that someone from the working class would never except them.

I fully support the opposite to the current thing ( https://summit.news/2022/03/31/i-support-the-current-thing/ ) .

Virtue signalling is the silliest criticism I've heard of.

It boils down to saying something is good because it's critics only dislike it because it makes them look good to criticise it.

There's no affirmative arguments for the thing in question, and any argument about virtue signalling just says that society considers the alternative virtuous - an argument against your non-virtuous opinions

> No one actually has to do anything. Virtue comes from mere words or even from silently held beliefs. There was a time in the distant past when people thought you could only be virtuous by doing things: by helping the blind man across the road; looking after your elderly parents instead of dumping them in a home; staying in a not-wholly-perfect marriage for the sake of the children. These things involve effort and self-sacrifice. That sounds hard! Much more convenient to achieve virtue by expressing hatred of those who think the health service could be improved by introducing competition.

Here's an experiment - the next time you're out (if you still do that), take a look around and see how many people are wearing masks. Of that sample, how many of them have long hair?

The thing that typifies white liberals most to me is their desire to be adorned with an aura of virtue while still doing the absolute bare minimum in order to be seen as such. Conspicuous displays such as mask wearing are low-effort, low-cost, require little to no compromise or change in one's lifestyle and behavior, and signal to fellow whites or allied tribespeople that you are on the same side.

But when it comes to making an actual sacrifice - not even a significant one, I would posit! - suddenly all those lambasting the "alt right" are nowhere to be found. Short hair, fades, crew cuts abound - what happened? Weren't we just shaming our neighbors on social media for wanting to get haircuts? For having outdoor barbecues in the park? Where were you, when society called for your sacrifice?

At the barber's, it seems.

Now think - if there are this many people willing to skirt quarantine and stay-at-home orders while making outward displays of conformity... how many more of these self-proclaimed progressives actually secretly harbor racist beliefs while still reciting the common refrains of diversity and inclusion?

I've developed tactics for unmasking the fakers and pretend-quarantiners. I am working to develop social technologies to unmask the pretend anti-racists now.