If I applaud all the good things and condemn all the bad things, you know what that says about me?
To my astonishment and delight, the phrase ‘virtue signalling’ has become part of the English language. I coined the phrase in an article here in The Spectator (18 April) in which I described the way in which many people say or write things to indicate that they are virtuous.
Sometimes it is quite subtle. By saying that they hate the Daily Mail or Ukip, they are really telling you that they are admirably non-racist, left-wing or open-minded. One of the crucial aspects of virtue signalling is that it does not require actually doing anything virtuous. It does not involve delivering lunches to elderly neighbours or staying together with a spouse for the sake of the children. It takes no effort or sacrifice at all.
Exactly. It says I desperately want to be popular, to want you to like me, to want everyone to know that my sensibilities are on the correct side of the fence and that I am too lazy to actually do anything, but can pretend to be deeply passionate on the internets.
Whether James Bartholomew was actually the person who coined the phrase, however, is problematic. You see, James is male, and well, you know how that goes.
It is slightly frustrating that some people have credited Libby Purves with creating the phrase. Unlike Liz Jones, she did not mention where it came from. But I forgive her. I am a fan of hers and the way she presents Midweek on Radio 4. We were contemporaries at Oxford and I’ll never forget seeing her walking in front of me wearing hot pants. That sort of thing creates a special bond.
But regardless of his self-serving, not to mention gratuitous rape culture characterization, claim that virtue signalling was his, and despite the fact that I have no clue who came up with it, I will credit Purves with creating the phrase because I want you to know that I will not allow the Patriarchy to steal the efforts of women, as men have done for millennia, so it really doesn’t matter what I know, because I stand for virtue.
Carry on.
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“…I’ll never forget seeing her walking in front of me wearing hot pants.”
Thank you. I just spit coffee all over my monitor.
Right? It was perfect.
REvers,
MeToo.
All the best.
RGK
The guy’s claim to inventing the phrase (in April 2015 according to that artilce) is questionable without any considerations of gender coming into it; the Wikipedia article mentions uses in academic signaling theory going back well before that, and then the popularization of its use in Internet discussion seems to have gone via LessWrong in 2009 (which referred to more circuitous phrases like “signaling of virtue”), and later (but still preceding that guy’s article) discussions did include the specific phrase “virtue signaling”. At best, then, he was involved in popularizing it, not inventing it.
This is exactly what one would expect the Patriarchy to say.
Two legs bad! Four legs good!
It looks like they aren’t doing anything, but in reality, they are helping to reduce the confusion of voices caused by nonconforming thoughts and expressions.
And adding to the economy by having their mother purchase massive quantities of Cheetos.