Comment by dpark
15 hours ago
> 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.
Cost makes signals credible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_(economics)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costly_signaling_theory_in_evo...
This is getting way into the weeds but the fact that costly signals are more trustworthy doesn’t mean all signals are costly.
An “in this house we believe” sign is signaling but if you live in a liberal neighborhood it’s extremely low cost by all measures.