Comment by 1-6
19 hours ago
The virtue signaling is too much on this article. It could have been a well-written piece, but they had to make it about moral grandstanding.
19 hours ago
The virtue signaling is too much on this article. It could have been a well-written piece, but they had to make it about moral grandstanding.
“Virtue signaling” is when you don’t take meaningful action. The article author went out of their way to take meaningful action.
I'm like the Japanese soldier who kept fighting into the 1970s on this, but actually signalling is about taking costly action. When people call something virtue signalling what they usually mean is that it's cheap talk, but this is wrong. The whole point of signalling is that it's costly. A more correct application of virtue signalling would be something like those people who contort their lives to genuinely try to produce zero garbage. This is a truly costly action, but it is signalling in the sense that it is more about showing that one cares by being effortful than actually doing something effectual.
> When people call something virtue signalling what they usually mean is that it's cheap talk, but this is wrong. The whole point of signalling is that it's costly.
What? Signaling is not costly. It’s literally a display, a signal.
2 replies →
Being ethical is the point.
Youre right. virtue signalling against double-taps with AGM's on fishing boats, or using ICE to kill americans is a bad stance to take. We should have considered the pro-warcrime pro-killing-american stances first...
Any case where someone takes a moral position is now called "virtue signaling" and "grandstanding."
I suppose if you work in the Soylent Green factory it's easier to demonize those who speak out against it than to consider upending your own station.
Going out of your way to quit a job most people in tech dream of after months of serious calls to action is not mere signalling.