I read a convincing argument recently that “virtue signalling” would be more clearly renamed “piety signalling”. When Alice accuses Bob of virtue signalling, i

I read a convincing argument recently that “virtue signalling” would be more clearly renamed “piety signalling”. When Alice accuses Bob of virtue signalling, it usually carries the subtext that Alice doesn’t actually agree with Bob’s assessment of what virtue is. You rarely find the accusation in a context where someone is doing something universally agreed to be virtuous even if they are being kinda self-aggrandising about it. Usually the accusation comes when someone is loudly exhibiting “virtues” which only seem virtuous to one side of the culture war.