During the 2020 election season I started noticing some signs popping up in my neighborhood. Not unusual, given the time of year, but these weren’t political signs. Or, more accurately, they were not signs that had the names of any political candidates on them. Instead, they were signs like this one:
Sorry for the grainy photo but this was a picture I took on my phone while walking my dog. At first, I was just amused by this sign. After all, it seemed harmless enough. A tad self righteous, but I didn’t give it much further thought. However, as I began to walk by this sign every day, I started to get more and more annoyed by it. Why did my neighbor think it was necessary to share their “beliefs” on these various topics with the whole neighborhood? Was it to let us all know what an amazing and virtuous person they are? Look at all of the causes they “Believe” in! Surely, they must be one of the most virtuous people on the planet! It says so, right on their sign! It begged the question: Why would ANYONE feel the need to put one of these signs in their yard?
The answer: virtue signaling. What’s virtue signaling? Glad you asked! Dictionary.com defines it as :
“the sharing of one's point of view on a social or political issue, often on social media, in order to garner praise or acknowledgment of one’s righteousness from others who share that point of view, or to passively rebuke those who do not”.
Everyone knows someone like this. Just open up any social media app that you have and start scrolling. This is not a 100% accurate depiction but they will probably look something like this:
Or maybe like this:
Although my neighbors sign was not on social media it still had the other hallmark that is required for virtue signaling, as defined here by urban dictionary:
“A phenomena where someone campaigns for or otherwise shows their support for an often popular position without actually doing anything meaningful to further the cause that they claim to champion.”
“Without actually doing anything meaningful”? 🤔Yes, I think that explains the sign quite nicely. It is, of course, entirely possible that my neighbor COULD be out doing all kinds of hard work on the variety of issues listed on their sign. But, if they were, I doubt they’d have time to put up a sign in their yard letting everyone know, because they’d be too busy working on all of the issues they so fervently “believe” in! Also, I think it’s worth asking the question here: If you are actually a virtuous person do you REALLY need a sign telling everyone that you are? That would seem to go against the concept of being a virtuous person. After all, the definition of virtuous is: “having good moral QUALITIES and BEHAVIOR”. I don’t see anything in the definition about shoving it down people’s throats so they know just how virtuous you are, but maybe I missed it?
This is the problem with virtue signaling. You don’t have to actually be a virtuous person, you just have to tell people that you are through your Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages to garner your likes and loves. No meaningful action is required of you. After all, you’ve changed your Facebook icon to the Pride flag for Pride month, to a black square for Black Lives Matter and now you’re proudly displaying the Ukrainian flag! You’ve even shared this picture:
Oh, Puh-lease!🙄 You REALLY believe that more money should come out of your wallet, and YOUR children’s mouths for some child across the world? Nope, I don’t believe you. And if you do actually believe that, by the way, then you’re a terrible parent.
So, is part of being virtuous letting everyone know just how virtuous you are? According to Time magazine it is. In an article entitled: Don’t Be Afraid to Virtue Signal — It Can Be a Powerful Tool to Change People’s Minds (link), the authors discuss how virtue signaling through conforming to other people’s opinions is actually really good for us! From the article:
“Conformity can seem spineless, but in fact it reflects an ancient yearning to be part of something greater than ourselves—a smart yearning, given the many social advantages of coordinating and cooperating with others. It goes deeper than words, sometimes changing what we see, what we value, and how we behave, even privately. And no matter what we think of this, we are and will always be a herd species, more prone to move together than alone. Social norms will continue to change, and we will change with them.
Conformity is good! We are a herd species! Well, if Time magazine says so then it must be true! Except that we have NEVER been a herd species, ever! A tribal one, yes but never a herd species. I would argue that many people who mean to destroy our Republic WANT us to be a herd species; to think as one mind. An entire herd of giant animals can be moved the same direction by a single herding dog. But, this is not Star Trek and I have no desire to be absorbed as a part of the Borg. The outfit alone is enough to make me say, “ No thanks!”
Right now you’re saying to yourself, “Ok, so virtue signalers are super annoying douchebags. Got it! Should I really care about all the virtue signaling that people do? It doesn’t affect me, does it?” Au contraire, mon ami. Virtue signaling has real world consequences! Most obvious to me would be the Covid mask controversy that we’ve had to deal with for the past two years. You know, those masks that people wear “to protect others”. Why do we think the mask mandates have gone on for soooo long? The mask debate is really a “mask of virtue” problem, isn’t it? People can literally wear their virtue on their face, proudly, for all to see. And as an added bonus they can identify the non virtue signalers around them so as to make sure that they can rebuke them for their transgression of non conformity! (Don’t forget that Time says that conformity is a good thing!) They can also make sure that they virtue signal really hard about how anyone who doesn’t wear a mask or get a vaccine is a terrible person who deserves to die from Covid! Fun times!
By the way, can you guess which other political sign was next to my neighbors sign above? I know it’s hard to guess… Come on, think about it…you got it? Yep, you’re right! It was a Biden/Harris sign. (Did my neighbor actually think it was necessary to put up that Biden Harris sign? I think it was pretty obvious who they were going to vote for.) They are the ultimate virtue signaling team! Let’s not actually try to get anyone who is qualified to run for Vice President. No, let’s make sure it’s a “woman of color”, because you know, that’s the most important thing. Ignore the fact that she’s a complete and total idiot and extremely unpopular, but because her skin is darker than some people’s that somehow shows how progressive and dare I say “virtuous” our president is! Nevermind the fact that we have decades of him saying pretty racist things, putting many non-violent people of color behind bars with his infamous ‘94 Crime Bill, and also the history of groping women and children on camera…nope, all that matters is that his Vice President is a “black” woman.
Adding further fuel to his virtue signaling fire, Biden also said that he would nominate “only a black woman” for the next open Supreme Court seat, which he has done. There is nothing saying a black woman can’t be the most qualified candidate, but when you ONLY look at one segment of society for a job, and do it just to garner favor of said segment, this is another form of virtue signaling that has real consequences. While conservatives were freaking out about Ketanji Brown Jackson’s record on giving pedophiles light sentences, the woman actually said somethings that should have disqualified her from being on the Supreme Court or near any court for that matter. She said:
"The theory that humans possess inherent or inalienable rights is reflected in the Declaration of Independence, which states: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
When asked if she held a position on whether individuals possess natural rights. She said:
"I do not hold a position on whether individuals possess natural rights."
So, we now have a Supreme Court justice who doesn’t think people have natural rights and thinks that having inalienable rights is a theory! Fantastic! Way to go virtue signaling!
Going back to those slogans that my neighbor “believes” in, don’t they remind you of the party slogans from 1984 ? Pretty soon these virtue signalers will be throwing their shoes at the telescreen screaming “Water is life!!”, “Science is Real!” and “Freedom is Slavery!!”. The last one is coming soon, I’m sure. And while they are participating in the 2 minute Hate they will be 100% positive that they are in the right. After all “Ignorance is Strength”.
I hope you can see now that pretending to be virtuous is a dangerous thing. But don’t take it from me. Take it from this old, racist (probably, just guessing here), white guy Benjamin Franklin, who once warned us:
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself, Ben.