I usually see this term used by conservatives against liberals to delegitamize whatever opinion the lib has. For example, wearing a mask = virtue signaling. Sharing your political opinion on social media = virtue signaling. What is the point of calling something performative? Isn’t there value in sharing ideas?
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Doing something not because you actually care or feel strongly, but because you want to make yourself look good and feel better about yourself
Virtue signaling: doing something not because you actually need to do it or want to do it, but because “everyone is doing it” or because you want others to see how “right-thinking” you are.
Example: every time another hoax “ICE bounty hunters abducted a kitten” story shows up there are immediately 1200 replies with “They are literally Nazis” and “Trump is Hitler” and “I am leaving the country!!!1!11!”.
I don’t believe people are actually that stupid and that non-discerning. I (maybe wrongly) think higher of people. But it is pure virtue-signaling. They post it and they like it and they get dopamine hits both from posting and from all the upvotes they get.
Wearing a mask during the height of the pandemic was not at all virtue signaling! It was complying with the guidance of public health officials.
Virtue signaling is making an outward show of some sort of virtue that is inconsistent with your actual behavior or outlook. For example, if I post on social media about how it takes all of us to help the homeless, but I don’t do any volunteer work, don’t donate to applicable causes, and actively avoid interacting with homeless people, I’m virtue signaling.
I know a few people who walk the walk. They are insufferably liberal, but they don’t just talk about it. One person makes a giant deal about mental health challenges for minorities on social; she’s also a practicing psychologist who works exclusively with vulnerable communities, accepting a lower quality of her own life in the interest of helping the community. That’s not virtue signaling at all; it’s just her life.
In a more subtle way, I think a common (less so recently) virtue signal is including pronouns in your email signature or Zoom name. If you really think that’s a good thing, then you do you, but it seemed like most folks who did/do that just want everyone else to know how inclusive they are, and I don’t get it.
To me virtue signaling means that you prioritize “not being part of the problem” over “working toward a solution”
Example.
Judgmental vegans.
If you think the world would be a better place with less meat consumption. You would get more results toward your goal by reaching out for people and convince them to reducing their consumption. If you choose to cut them out out of principle, you know they will never reduce their consumption… Which tells me that you don’t actually care about your cause.
Virtue signaling is a action or statement that may or may not be believed, but which is done to highlight, I am doing this thing that the social group I’m part of will be proud of. It is not doing something just because of it being what you believe, the biggest aspect of it is to signal to the chosen community, I am doing something good, notice me doing it.
Pretending something not affiliated with you, is