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Young teens to thirty somethings that seem interested in social issues aren't terribly interested. This disparity is known as virtue signaling and was pioneered
by felix_nagaand 8y ago
Young teens to thirty somethings that seem interested in social issues aren't terribly interested. This disparity is known as virtue signaling and was pioneered by religion, politicians, and most recently, business. Now it's even trickling down to poor people. It's fashionable to lament the tragedy of the socially poor. Fashionable in much the same way as handing out jobs to the incompetent because their skin is a certain color or their sex is outside the norm. These tactics do little to solve problems, but go a long way towards increasing social divides between percieved groups. Instead of granting jobs to those incapable of meeting the standards their "less diverse" colleagues have we should be rallying for universal health care, workers rights (regardless of protected classes), universal higher education/ trades schools that track straight from high school and are continually redesigned with knowledge of leading educational research, and a massive increase in public funding for pk-12 education that does not unfairly benefit self segregated communities by wealth as a result of land taxes.
- gt_ 8y agoI am really with you on this, but I’d assert there’s more to it. It’s tough to blame them. Surely awareness is lacking but even if it isn’t, we’ve got a system in which your own well-being depends on being part of a social circle. The economics of associating one’s self with issues which are themselves associated with low-income or low-popularity is not seen as an option. On top of that, there is virtually unlimited liberal political funding for virtue signaling because it’s a very indirect way to signal compassion without economic action to back it up. This plays really well to middle and upper class people and in-turn lower class people seeking to mingle with higher classes adopt the behavior. The fact of the matter is that freedom of expression is massively contingent on economic security; and at some point even moreso than education. Socialized securities are America’s greatest hope at the moment. Recommended reading: Mark Fisher, Pierre Bourdieu Recommended voting: DSA-endorsed