Virtue signalling

Ok, so these aren’t my words but they do present an interesting explanation of what is occurring right now as I ask the question, what is virtue signaling? Where does this moral outrage come from, where is this actually applied?

Virtue signaling is defined as ‘Advocating a political or philosophical position, and/or taking up a public cause, from a position of vanity, for the primary purpose of demonstrating your conformity with fashionable pop culture values’.

Ok, so what does that mean? Like so many others, I have social media accounts and this tends to be the forum to virtue signal. When the BLM protests took off, the white virtue signallers were busy. There was the #Me Too movement, immigration, police brutality, poverty, climate change and colonisation.

I am not interested in empty acts, if you truly believe in your cause, the question is, what have you done this month to improve the lives of those affected? Where have you volunteered? Have you put some of your own income to fund an initiative?

People get on their mobile phones to complain about emissions and waste, yet their mobile phones add to the worldwide waste. They only last a couple of years, their batteries are made from rare minerals that are commonly mined using unsustainable methods and the phones are not disposed of properly that actually damage the environment.