Truth and Virtue Signaling

Photo by Iqx Azmi on Unsplash

Today the Naked Truth would like to talk about Virtue Signaling, you know:

vir·tue sig·nal·ing

noun

The private and/or public expression of opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one’s good character or social conscience or the moral correctness of one’s position on a particular issue.

A notable example of this is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, in which participants were expected to dump a bucket of freezing cold water on their head and/or donate money to charities dealing with ALS (a neurodegenerative disease). The virtue signaling, in this case, is said to have occurred because many of the people (this in Britain) who participated in the challenge did so without making a donation, which suggests that they cared more about participating in the event and about the attention associated with it than they did about supporting the related cause. It seems unlikely the statistics would be different elsewhere, humans being humans.

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So let’s take a moment and have a friendly chat about showing off our good side. We’ve all been in those conversations where someone keeps dropping hints or outright telling us about their fantastic moral values or how they always do the ‘right’ thing. They talk about charitable causes (i.e. ice bucket challenge mentioned above) or how they never choose not to recycle or maybe they just did a five-mile run to support another good cause.

You may be impressed or if it’s a constant thing you may have reached the point of annoyance. The ‘flag-waving’ look at me and see what a great person I am can be exhausting to tolerate.

Now, being a good person and having strong values are truly amazing things these days (though it pains me to say it since it should be the norm). And, we all know people of that kind. The ones who quietly do good and don’t make a big deal about it. The problem arises when a person is more focused on the approval of others than actually making a difference for the good. Spreading the news of their wonderfulness far and wide on social media.

Photo by pai pai on Unsplash

Us humans like to be liked. And we want to be respected by others, admired. There’s nothing wrong with being proud of an accomplishment or our own strong personal beliefs. The problem comes in when gleaning that admiration, magnifying it on social media, and puffing out one’s chest is more important than the results of said good deed or strong beliefs. It also arrives when a person is using said accomplishments (or claim to them if we’re talking about the statistics of the ‘ice bucket challenge’) to turn attention away from that person’s flaws and past mistakes.

Not all virtue signaling is bad. There are times when sharing something positive we’ve undertaken might inspire others to follow along and create their own positive impact. It can cause a ripple effect. That’s the good side of it all. But, in our view, it then becomes more of a sharing than in the category of virtue signaling.

Think about it. Someone might talk about, give lip-service to, volunteering to serve food at a shelter at Thanksgiving, another person actually does it and talks about it mostly to encourage others to find their own way of giving.

To, wrap it up, we encourage others to think about your motives when talking about a good deed you’ve performed. Are you seeking praise, a limelight to bask in, or are you hoping to inspire others to step up as well? We’re hoping it’s the later (at least mostly).