"virtue signalling" was a phrase invented to stigmatize the act of publicly giving a shit about something other than yourself
@Xibanya Thanks, seriously wondered for ages what it was. Now I know that it is exactly the idiotic stupidity I thought it was. Bless whoever it was who came up with it, with boils!;*
Yes! Being against "Virtue Signaling" is being against communication. Cultural values are established and spread through communication about what is valuable.
Use of the phrase "Virtue Signaling" is virtual signaling to assholes. 🙄
Saying "You're just virtue signaling" is like saying "You're just making sounds with your mouth" or "You're just communicating thoughts via letters on a screen."
It's a nonsensical reduction.
"publicly expressing views which are presently being mainstreamed in the culture but which one does not actually hold in order to prevent ostracization & loss of access to social resources" is definitely behavior that exists, as we have seen
what is that behavior called, if "virtue signalling" is what people who probably do that behavior all the time call that behavior when they are accusing earnest folks that aren't doing that behavior of doing that behavior
That's just communication. That's just how we live in a society and communicate what values we choose to endorse.
I don't think it's meaningful to talk about what views a person 'actually holds', I don't really care who someone is 'in their heart', how they act in a society is what counts, right?
my second paragraph was confusing/circular
from another angle:
there's a 2nd subtextual accusation in accusations of "virtue signalling" :
"The virtue you are signalling that you have is not actually present in you"
such as in the classic American idea formulation that men only endorse feminism (or have emotions at all) so that women will partner with them sexually
oh hey, this behavior is also found in the wild when like a moth grows eyespots
lies are actions, predators lie.
@gwiddern_tree yeah, I think you're onto something. "You're just virtue signaling" is an accusation of hypocrisy, often leveled by people who literally can't understand that someone would have values.
"It's impossible that you actually believe this, so let me rationalize a context under which I can understand that you'd say this.Oh! It must be a performance!"
@Xibanya I got accused of this once in an email!
I had to look it up and it made me laugh. A lot.
@Xibanya no, no it wasn't. The act of pretending you give a shit by means of redundant gestures like changing your icon.
@Xibanya It's impressive how much modern discourse is full of language like this (motivated by the same thing). Wait, that was a typo, I meant depressing.
@Xibanya 1st instance I can find is 2010 paper. Of course common usage differs.
"Importantly then, costly signalling holds that both the conservation of
religion and its apparent irrationality can be accounted for by a single
model, one that combines moral policing with virtue signalling."
Religious culture and cooperative prediction under risk: Perspectives from social neuroscience
J Bulbulia, U Schjoedt
@Xibanya nah man, if you direct message someone who suffers from depression then you're not virtue signalling, but if you do it publicly and state "Look at me everyone should be like me" that's virtual signalling.
That's one difference I believe there's a good few others as well, but to say it's just people caring about others, it really isn't, otherwise everyone in the world would constantly be virtue signalling.
@Xibanya Incorrect. It's showing off your giving a shit for personal gain.
@Xibanya that's a thing?
@xj9 like, whats actually *real*, man???
@xj9 so much for the tolerant left!
@xj9 do u need a safe space
@Xibanya I wonder how many people remain silent because they are too afraid to stand up for others.
@Divan thats why reactionaries try to stigmatize things that challenge their supremacy
@Xibanya I'll boost this all day, fellow human.