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The article isn't loading for me (504 error), so hopefully my headline-based comment isn't too far off-topic: Now that we know sincerity can be signaled, candi

• PaulHoule 5y ago
  I didn't mean to crash their web site! They consider two interventions: (1) taking an extreme position to signal legitimacy, (2) speaking in moral language. They found (2) effective, (1) ineffective.
  • uoaei 5y ago
    My cynicism of politicians draws a shade over my eyes and I cannot interpret it more charitably: I interpret this to mean, plucking heartstrings works as long as you take no substantive position on the issue. I think this can be seen empirically in Dem leadership communications strategies over the past few years/decades, with all the waffling, pathological centrism, and immediate appeasement of the squeaky wheels among us.
    • deleted 5y ago
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• ThrowawayR2 5y ago
  > "Now that we know sincerity can be signaled, candidates can now cynically practice being the most sincere." “The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made.” --Jean Giradoux, though variants predate his usage (https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/12/05/fake-honesty/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/12/05/fake-honesty/)
  • kalimanzaro 5y ago
    In a book by another French author Rene Girard, it is implied that the above lines of thought are insidious forms of nihilism, for: Why work for actual success when you can fake it? Etc. Yes. Virtue signaling is a debasement of the currency. Well, as it turns out, Girards entire oeuvre can be said to be advocating for that ineffective strategy of adopting extreme positions.. (eg if you think that dying on the cross was very ineffective for J. Christ)