Are you “Virtue Signaling,” or are you Genuinely Virtuous?

Image courtesy of pixabay

If there’s one thing the the right loves to do, it is to mock the sincerity of those on the left. If you fly a rainbow flag, drive a hybrid car, have a National Public Radio bumper sticker, or, most egregious of all, post a Black Lives Matter sign on your organic lawn, then you don’t believe what you display; you are only trying to impress other goody-goodies by signaling your own goody-goody-ness.

There are so many problems with this attitude, that I don’t know where to start.

First, are people only trying to impress other “do-gooders,” or are they also sending a message to others that honoring all identities, saving the planet, supporting intelligent reporting, and respecting black lives is a better way to live than not doing those things? If one has a little pride in that, then where’s the harm?

While I was visiting a right-wing website (know thine enemies) one poster complained that he/she “saw Black Lives Matter signs in a neighborhood where no people of color lived. “Why would you post that sign if no black people are around?” they wondered. They suppose it must be because you only need to tell people of color that their lives matter. You don’t need to tell that to white people because, well, why should they care what you think about…