I really wish you wouldn’t use this kind of language! It’s a toxic idea that has been disseminated in the culture for the very worst of reasons, and used, I think, without really following through the implications.
Virtue signalling is the foundation of morality. It is literally how morality is created, shared, and supported in communities. The endgame of problematizing “virtue signalling” is to eliminate morality. Notice how many voices decry virtue signalling, but no-one seems to have a problem with “vice signalling”.
Signal your virtues, folks. Get it out there. Tell people about the good things you’ve done, or that you’d like to do. Create a groundswell of ethical conduct. Don’t keep your morality silent, because when you do, you leave the space open for immorality to be heard.
Buddhist rituals like dana offerings, pujas, undertaking precepts: these are all communally-sanctioned forms of virtue signalling. The idea of anumodana is to say it loud and proud, to celebrate with joy the virtue that you have undertaken. Never be ashamed of doing good, and don’t be shy to share your goodness with others. It’s not cringe, it’s glorious.
(Philosophical note: the underpinnings of the campaign against “virtue signalling” by the right in the US ultimately stems from René Girard, one of the favorite philosophers of extreme right pseudo-intellectuals like Peter Thiel. Girad was a French anthropological philosopher of religion from a Catholic background. His primary thesis was “mimesis”, the idea that human culture was based on mimicry of others; more specifically, that we want something because we see that others want it. The extreme right wants to dismantle morality in pursuit of absolute wealth and domination or elimination of the other. Their understanding of mimesis teaches them that communities are moral because members of the community positively indicate their morality to others, which creates prestige and pleasure for those who are recognized as doing good. This in turn creates a desire in others to also do good so that they too will be looked up to and respected—an aspect of doing good that the Buddha frequently referred to and praised in the Suttas. The inexorable conclusion follows that if you want to promote evil, stop people from signalling virtue.)
(Personal note: I studied Girad a little when doing my research on mythology, as he is one of the few modern philosophers who takes mythology seriously. I found his ideas to be often brilliant and insightful, even if clouded by a certain arrogance and one-sidedness. But when I first heard the idea of “virtue signalling”, it quickly reminded me of Girad—the unexpected benefits of studying the philosophy of myths I guess! It was only later that I learned that Peter Thiel was an acolyte of Girad’s. I wonder what Girad would think of Thiel’s plans to undermine democracy, disenfranchise women, promote Putinistic autocracy, and ultimately, to get rich by ripping off the public so he could hide out in New Zealand as the apocalypse created by him and his mates comes to fruition so he can live forever harvesting the blood of the young. Oh, and he loves to shill for bitcoin while decrying virtue signalling. Of course.)
I do what I can, but it is only a trifle compared with what Aboriginal people have done for us.
It’s not just Alabama.
