Why You Shouldn’t Virtue Signal

I’m sure many of you know that feeling of disgust when you hear someone openly brag about donating to the local charity. But why do we feel this way? I mean, they donated after all, so good is being done whether or not the donor is bragging, right? Well, yes, but there’s absolutely a very reasonable explanation for your intuition that’s questioning the person’s character. What they are doing is something called virtue signalling.

Virtue signalling is essentially when someone says or does something to indicate that they have done a good deed. It can be quite obvious when someone says it — the example above illustrates this well enough. But it can also be an action, such as only performing good deeds when there are many eyes around to see. This version is a bit more subtle to detect, but it is virtue signalling nevertheless.

Modern Manifestations of Virtue Signalling

One modern manifestation of this is giving homeless people food with a camera in their face and then posting the recording online. I’m sure the people who do that have a reasonable explanation: “well, I’m just trying to promote generosity”. Yea, maybe. And maybe not. It may be worth considering how humiliating it would be to have a camera in your face while you are desperate for food yet you have no other option but to accept it.