Virtue SIGNALING
Virtue SIGNALING being spat out like some tabboo demonstration. Is it accurate to say that someone is being mean? Inhumane? Supremacist? I'm not catching it's meaning to flag a specific temperance?
What makes that virtue signalling is that they clearly didn't love him. They knew nothing about him except what he said in a short video. They had never met him or spent time with him. Anyone who truly cared about him will have contacted him in private and offered actual help; those who simply shared the video and made public comments about how strong and brave Jones was were more interested in being seen to be compassionate.
That's the essence of virtue signalling: it wasn't about helping Jones or even victims of bullying in general; it was all about making the virtue signallers appear compassionate in other people's eyes.
As anyone who has ever dealt with bullying, or been a victim of it, knows, that kind of thing only makes the bullying worse.
Things got more complicated, though, when a journalist looked through his mother's Facebook page and found pictures of her posing with a Confederate flag and making comments apparently criticizing those who took a stance against it. She now claims those pictures were a joke, but whatever the truth: suddenly the tide turned against the Jones family, with people now publicly condemning their racist attitudes. A crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the family was closed with tens of thousands of donations already made, the people who started it now apparently in a quandry over whether to give the money to a victim of bullying, or withold it from an allegedly racist family: is it better to be seen as "uncompassionate" or "racist-enabling"?
This, I think, is an excellent example of virtue signalling. However, the term "virtue signalling" is so often misused that it has essentially become meaningless. People with extreme right-wing views in particular will often use it to criticize those who disagree with them. For example, men who say they support the feminist cause might be ridiculed for their alleged "virtue signalling".
It's important to distinguish between real virtue signalling, which is loudly proclaiming what a virtuous person you are when in fact you are not doing anything virtuous at all; and simply expressing a sincerely-held belief.
That's the essence of virtue signalling: it wasn't about helping Jones or even victims of bullying in general; it was all about making the virtue signallers appear compassionate in other people's eyes.
As anyone who has ever dealt with bullying, or been a victim of it, knows, that kind of thing only makes the bullying worse.
Things got more complicated, though, when a journalist looked through his mother's Facebook page and found pictures of her posing with a Confederate flag and making comments apparently criticizing those who took a stance against it. She now claims those pictures were a joke, but whatever the truth: suddenly the tide turned against the Jones family, with people now publicly condemning their racist attitudes. A crowdfunding campaign to raise money for the family was closed with tens of thousands of donations already made, the people who started it now apparently in a quandry over whether to give the money to a victim of bullying, or withold it from an allegedly racist family: is it better to be seen as "uncompassionate" or "racist-enabling"?
This, I think, is an excellent example of virtue signalling. However, the term "virtue signalling" is so often misused that it has essentially become meaningless. People with extreme right-wing views in particular will often use it to criticize those who disagree with them. For example, men who say they support the feminist cause might be ridiculed for their alleged "virtue signalling".
It's important to distinguish between real virtue signalling, which is loudly proclaiming what a virtuous person you are when in fact you are not doing anything virtuous at all; and simply expressing a sincerely-held belief.
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