There has been a lot of talk in recent times about Virtue Signalling.

What is it, you may ask? Well here are two definitions i found online:

To take a conspicuous but essentially useless action ostensibly to support a good cause but actually to show off how much more moral you are than everybody else. [Urban Dictionary: by Verboy]

an attempt to show other people that you are a good person, for example by expressing opinions that will be acceptable to them, especially on social media:
Virtue signalling is the popular modern habit of indicating that one has virtue merely by expressing disgust or favour for certain political ideas or cultural happenings. [Cambridge Dictionary]

To be fair, the term Virtue Signalling does kind of give you an idea of what it is – the idea of signalling virtue, or at the very least the appearance of virtue, specifically i believe on social media. The proverbial “HEY, LOOK AT ME!”

The Slippery Slope

From the definitions i have read [and this is still something i am learning about] it does seem to me that Intention or Motivation plays a huge role in Virtue Signalling. The purpose of the share is to get the attention or the good reputation or likes and shares and online love and so on. People must think that i am a good person.

Now this is where it becomes tricky for me. 

i try to be quite intentional about sharing some of the things i do [and very intentional about not sharing some of the things and just getting on and doing them] on social media with the hope that it will invite other people in and see people experimenting and trying and showing up and coming up with their own versions of things.

Take our meat-free journey as an example. Since returning from America, tbV [the beautiful Val] and i have been busy with a one week on, one week off rhythm with regards to meat. As a means of halving our meat consumption. Which for the most part has been quite successful.

So recently, i shared this blog post and invited people on Facebook to join us with the hope of getting 40 people who would try it for a month. We had close to 40 people who did this and it has just ended so i may write a feedback piece if people are keen.

Now people could very easily call that virtue signalling. And they may be right, i don’t know. i don’t think it is because the motivation and intention were not to draw praise towards me but to invite others on a journey.

When i donate blood i tend to post about it as a means of triggering [not that kind!!] a reminder for people: “Oh yes, i need to give blood again” cos i have found it is such an easy one to forget. And also to invite people who have never given to give – this past Friday i had two people join me for first time giving, although one of them sadly was not able to give. Virtue Signalling? Perhaps, but three extra people were helped as a result, so i don’t really care.

An interesting article on the topic by Robert Shrimsley titled ‘Once you’re accused of Virtue-Signalling you can’t do anything right.’contains some interesting thoughts on the matter.

Keep some virtue private

For me, one of the keys is making sure there are good things you do or try to do that you don’t tell anyone about.

The bible talks about giving and says ‘don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing’ [Matthew 6.3] which i think is encouraging us to not do good things for the praise, for the reputation, for the good name. But i do think social media changes that up somewhat [without dismissing the principle] because it gives us the option to gather a whole lot of people towards good causes [protests, kickstarter funds, water-saving drives etc]

But then it becomes crucial that you continue to stand in front of the mirror. And check your motivation and intention. And also that you invite the significant people in your life to hold you accountable and keep on bringing people back to that. Check your heart.

Also, i do believe the main work of convincing comes through relationships and over conversations at dinner and family whatsapp groups and so on.  That is where you will likely see the most movement. Calls towards eating more organically and recycling and living more simply and buying local.

But i do believe there is a place for sharing positive things you are part of with the online community for a number of reasons:

[1] You introduce people to new ideas they have not thought of. The reason a lot of people don’t donate blood is that they have not gotten round to it. Same as recycling – it’s generally not that people have actively chosen to not recycle, but they never did it before and so they continue to not do it until something interrupts.

[2] You remind people of something they believe in, but have forgotten. Again, blood donating is a good example because it happens every six weeks or so and the text or email can arrive at the wrong time and be totally forgotten about. But someone saying, “I’m going on Friday, who is coming?” reminds the person of the thing they already wanted to do and hopefully gets them to make a commitment to do it.

[3] It extends an invitation. For the last two Christmasses a number of us volunteered to help serve meals to people in town via an organisation called the Carpenter’s Workshop [now Hope Exchange] to give those who regularly served the meals some time off. By posting the opportunity a number of people jumped on board and signed up. But by naming a date we were going, an asking “Who wants to do this with us?” it took something that may have seemed daunting to some and made it accessible.

[4] It tells a good story. i LOVE the work that BottomUp is doing in a number of schools in the Greater Grassy Park area. They are teaching young people how to think critically. i don’t know if any [or many] schools around the country are doing this kind of work. And in an area where many people won’t even choose to visit because of all the negative stories we hear. So talking about BottomUp events [like the recent Public Speaking Speak Up event they hosted!] feels like a good thing. Because the stories uplift and the hope is that the right person will hear and share the story and BottomUp will somehow get the funding they need to carry on with this vital work.

Is there any Virtue?

As i see it, the term ‘Virtue Signalling’ is an insult or a put-down. There are definitely times when it is true. The whole concept of Slacktivism [thinking i am an activist making a difference because i fill in a petition or share an article, but never actually do anything outside of that – combination of Slacker and Activist] speaks to the reason behind it.

It is good to be cautious about the things we share, and especially the motivations behind them. But we can also use the online space as a means for mobilising, recruiting, inspiring, rallying, fund-raising and equipping and i would hate that one little term to prevent any of that from happening.

At the end of each day you stand in front of the mirror. And it doesn’t matter too much what anyone thinks of you then.

How did i use today? My time, my money, my skills, my voice, my creativity and my opportunities. To build and create and grow and imagine… to dismantle and interrupt and disrupt and petition… or simply to try and get people to think what a good person i am. At the end of the day, that means nothing to my mirror. It is never impressed by anything besides what it sees and knows to be true.