Ok, I belive they do on some superficial level. I mean, people virtue signal about things they care, otherwise they wouldn't be doing it. If they actually cared, why not try and do something meaningful about it[1]? When I cared about issues, I put effort into trying to change things a even on a meager/local scale. As a teen I volunteered at a library to teach children how to behave online. Later I helped refurbish a homelessness shelter in my home town. I've taught programming at an LGBT community centre.
Maybe I've done these for selfish reasons because they are things that personally affected my own past/development, and doing them made me feel good and significant. These are all small things, but at least I hope I've made a difference to a small number of people. So, in my books a tweet or a driveby paragraph in release notes doesn't really make a difference. Tell me, how did GitHub help make black people feel more comfortable on the streets of America? How did these release notes help people's rights in Iran?
[1]: Also, to be fair, I don't know who put that paragraph in. Maybe they did do meaningfully contribute (i.e. by setting up VPN networks or something), and maybe I'm being unnecessarily harsh. But in my limited experience, the people who preach the loudest do the least, but also herald of their preaches and coat themselves with efforts of others. Sadly
No, people do not "virtue signal" about things they care about. Perhaps they used to in the past, but language has moved on. The phrase is now understood to carry with it an accusation of insincerity. Therefore virtue signaling and actually caring are contradictory.
This is how language works. Usage is meaning. A change in usage is a change in meaning. Language doesn't care about your opinions on the matter, it simply is. The phrase "virtue signaling" now carries with it an accusation of insincerity. If you don't mean to level such an accusation, you're going to need to find a way to communicate what you do mean that isn't encumbered by connotations that have recently become standard.
Expressions of solidarity with the powerless can help them weather the storm: they buoy hope, they increase perceptions of connection and of agency. I have witnessed this repeatedly over decades, including at first hand in this very specific instance. If everyone kept quiet about everything they could not immediately, materially, "fix", the world would be a far more desolate place for many. I guess there's no particular obligation for you to care, but would it actually be such a privation for you to stoically weather your indignation about others doing so?
> Expressions of solidarity with the powerless can help them weather the storm: they buoy hope, they increase perceptions of connection and of agency
I agree that solidarity can help. But none of that's going on here... This pathetic attempt at shallow expression isn't going to reach the people who need it (or probably anyone in Iran for that matter, due to the Internet situation there).
> I guess there's no particular obligation for you to care, but would it actually be such a privation for you to stoically weather your indignation about others doing so?
This is degenerating into gaslighting and you trying to put words into my mouth, so I will let the thread rest. I guess I'm happy to agree to disagree on the effectiveness of online virtue signaling[1].
I'm not even judging these people that hard, I think. I'm just describing the response their shallow behaviour elicits in other people. I don't even get such a strong response myself, I just think it's worthless
[1] To avoid confusion I mean "pathetically shallow attempts at trying to make a difference to improve their colleagues perception of their (shallow) morals"; with malicious intent or without, the action is the same. But that concludes me playing online word/semantic lawyer
> This pathetic attempt at shallow expression isn't going to reach the people who need it
You have no idea. As I said, I have personal experience of this particular instance of what you stereotype, sans evidence, as 'virtual signalling', having a genuinely heartening effect on a friend whose nephew was killed recently in Iran. This is the trouble with you internet snarlers. You have so little knowledge of physical reality.
You call me an Internet snarler, but isn't what we're discussing Internet snarling? Anyway, I'm glad you have a friend who was touched by this and I'm sorry for your friend's loss.
Maybe I've done these for selfish reasons because they are things that personally affected my own past/development, and doing them made me feel good and significant. These are all small things, but at least I hope I've made a difference to a small number of people. So, in my books a tweet or a driveby paragraph in release notes doesn't really make a difference. Tell me, how did GitHub help make black people feel more comfortable on the streets of America? How did these release notes help people's rights in Iran?
[1]: Also, to be fair, I don't know who put that paragraph in. Maybe they did do meaningfully contribute (i.e. by setting up VPN networks or something), and maybe I'm being unnecessarily harsh. But in my limited experience, the people who preach the loudest do the least, but also herald of their preaches and coat themselves with efforts of others. Sadly