Re:Why Democracy Is Dangerous
by krapp on Friday October 28, 2022 @08:55PM
(#33379844)
>Virtue signaling was not really a thing before social media.
The specific term may have arisen post social media, but the behavior itself is as old as humanity. We used to simply call such people frauds or posers, moral crusaders or social justice warriors. Tom Wolfe described the same phenomenon in the 1970s and called it "radical chic." The New Testament has Jesus calling out hypocrites for empty, public displays of religion 2000 years ago.
The specific term may have arisen post social media, but the behavior itself is as old as humanity. We used to simply call such people frauds or posers, moral crusaders or social justice warriors. Tom Wolfe described the same phenomenon in the 1970s and called it "radical chic." The New Testament has Jesus calling out hypocrites for empty, public displays of religion 2000 years ago.