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Outrage culture front and center. Time to pull out our morality antennas and virtue signal how pious we are in support.

by theWatcher37 9y ago

DanBC 9y ago
> virtue signal Your use of this vapid phrase is itself a form of virtue signalling.
- and0 9y ago
  Someone who unironically uses "virtue signalling" very conveniently signals that they're not worth listening to. It's kinda nice, actually.
  - hackinthebochs 9y ago
    I disagree, it's a very apt description of an increasingly common phenomena online. When one's need to signal group membership outweighs their personal feelings regarding the issue at hand, that's virtue signalling. With the balkanization of online communities to being hyper-focused, and actively exclusionary of those with slightly different beliefs, virtue signalling becomes an important component of becoming and staying a member in good standing. Online political forums are stark examples of this.
- weberc2 9y ago
  I thought it means "dogwhistling", except for the political left instead of the right?
  - xaa 9y ago
    Sort of. My understanding is that it means "declaring your (virtuous) opposition to <bad thing X>, regardless of whether <current topic Y> is actually an instance of X or whether Y is actually harmful." On the right, it might be: murder is bad, therefore I oppose abortion. On the left: gay marriage is good, and opposition to it is homophobia, therefore Brandon Eich should be fired. When the link between X and Y is too specious, it implies the speaker's primary goal is to show virtue by opposing X, rather than any real concern they have about Y.
glitcher 9y ago
I'm willing to accept the duality of this situation and that issues in life are full of nuances that are not so easily dismissed as entirely one thing or another. I'm curious, for those that seem so absolutely certain that things are only exactly one thing, where does this confidence come from? I have yet to see any evidence that life is that simple.
dang 9y ago
Please don't post ideological boilerplate here. It's hard enough to have a substantive discussion without people falling into denunciatory generics. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14506656 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14506656 and marked it off-topic.

Outrage culture front and center. Time to pull out our morality antennas and virtue signal how pious we are in support.

DanBC 9y ago

> virtue signal Your use of this vapid phrase is itself a form of virtue signalling.

and0 9y ago
Someone who unironically uses "virtue signalling" very conveniently signals that they're not worth listening to. It's kinda nice, actually.
- hackinthebochs 9y ago
  I disagree, it's a very apt description of an increasingly common phenomena online. When one's need to signal group membership outweighs their personal feelings regarding the issue at hand, that's virtue signalling. With the balkanization of online communities to being hyper-focused, and actively exclusionary of those with slightly different beliefs, virtue signalling becomes an important component of becoming and staying a member in good standing. Online political forums are stark examples of this.
weberc2 9y ago
I thought it means "dogwhistling", except for the political left instead of the right?
- xaa 9y ago
  Sort of. My understanding is that it means "declaring your (virtuous) opposition to <bad thing X>, regardless of whether <current topic Y> is actually an instance of X or whether Y is actually harmful." On the right, it might be: murder is bad, therefore I oppose abortion. On the left: gay marriage is good, and opposition to it is homophobia, therefore Brandon Eich should be fired. When the link between X and Y is too specious, it implies the speaker's primary goal is to show virtue by opposing X, rather than any real concern they have about Y.

glitcher 9y ago

I'm willing to accept the duality of this situation and that issues in life are full of nuances that are not so easily dismissed as entirely one thing or another. I'm curious, for those that seem so absolutely certain that things are only exactly one thing, where does this confidence come from? I have yet to see any evidence that life is that simple.

dang 9y ago

Please don't post ideological boilerplate here. It's hard enough to have a substantive discussion without people falling into denunciatory generics. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14506656 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14506656 and marked it off-topic.