Hi,
This week’s email is about a common social phenomenon that you’re probably encountering regularly, especially on social media.
As usual, this isn't written with a specific event in mind, and isn't meant to be judgmental. My goal is simply to describe this and similar phenomena as they are, so you can account for them better.
The information here is from my article on the topic.
Here are the key practical points you should know:
Virtue signaling is the act of speaking or behaving in a way that’s meant to demonstrate one’s good moral values.
For example, if a person widely proclaims on social media that they strongly support a certain cause, because they want to show others how caring they are, that person is virtue signaling.
This term is mainly used to refer to statements and behaviors that are at least somewhat disingenuous, meaning that they don’t fully reflect people’s true values and usually also lack meaningful impact.
Just because someone is demonstrating their moral values that doesn’t mean they’re virtue signaling, and even if someone is virtue signaling that doesn’t mean what they’re saying is wrong or that what they’re doing is without impact.
If you choose to call out someone for virtue signaling, make sure that this is indeed what they’re doing, and that you fully explain the problem with their behavior (likely without using this derogatory term directly).
As always, I'm happy to hear your thoughts.
Have a great week,
Itamar