Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

PaterFamilias Today

Home
Evangelical
Real Men Don’t Virtue Signal

Real Men Don’t Virtue Signal

Last updated on: March 1, 2017 at 3:37 pm by C. R. Wiley

Real Men Don’t Virtue Signal 2017-03-01T15:37:26-04:00 C. R. Wiley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Virtue signaling is the new self-righteousness. And self-righteousness is for sissies.

Every once in a while a term is coined that just has purchase. Political correctness is such a term. Some people hate it, especially if they’re guilty of it. I recall visiting a family member who happened to be the academic dean of a major university in the mid-90s. I used “political correctness” in passing. His face grew red and his voice strained. I knew I had touched a nerve. It also confirmed for me that political correctness is real.

Rent-seeking is another marvelous moniker of opprobrium. (I’m saving that for another time.) But the best one to come along in a while is virtue signaling.

If this is new to you, I assure you I didn’t make it up. It even has a Wikipedia page. Here’s how it is defined there:

Virtue signaling is the conspicuous expression of moral values by an individual done primarily to enhance their standing within a social group. The term was first used in signaling theory, to describe any behavior that could be used to signal virtue – especially piety among the religious faithful. Since 2015, the term has become more commonly used as a pejorative characterization by commentators to criticize what they regard as the platitudinous, empty, or superficial support of socially progressive views on social media.

Delicious, no?

We’ve seen these people before. They’re the Keystone Cops of the gospels. I’m speaking of the Pharisees, naturally.

There truly is nothing new under the sun. So why a new name? I think virtue signaling has the virtue of novelty going for it. It cuts through the defenses.

One defense people use to turn away the accusation of self-righteousness is the erroneous belief that only religious people can be guilty of self-righteousness.

This misses entirely what self-righteousness is even in a religious context. You don’t need God at all to be self-righteous, because when it came to self-righteousness the Pharisees didn’t care too much about what God thought, they cared too much about what people thought.

Jesus mounted a ferocious attack on the pretensions of the Pharisees by pointing this very thing out. The Sermon on the Mount repeats over and over that the truly righteous man doesn’t perform his deeds before the eyes of an adoring crowd. He performs them secretly–so secretly they are almost unconscious. (Don’t let the lefthand know what the righthand is doing! Mt 6:3) The righteous man performs his good works for God. And when he is rewarded, he has so little consciousness of his own righteousness he is surprised at all the fuss. Mt 25:37

We certainly don’t see any of that with the virtue signalers. Instead they want to be praised before they even do anything. They want to be praised for their intentions, or for voting for the “right” side, or their promises to to do good when they can get around to it.

It is this aspect to virtual signaling that makes it putrid. Like this promise to hire 10,000 refugees. Starbucks isn’t alone, and they’re not the first. Ben and Jerry’s is notorious for this. Hey, it sells. Everyone needs an indulgence when they pay for over-priced coffee or ice cream. These companies throw that in. You can feel good about paying $7.36 for that latte now, you’ve signaled that you’re on the right side of history. (I’m more inclined to buy from Republicans and sinners myself, “Give me a Dunkin coffee, medium, regular”.)

But I can hear Jesus now, “Don’t say, do. Just do it. Let’s be surprised by your goodness for a change, not disappointed when we discover you’re a hypocrite.”

Real men stand and deliver. That’s another thing I like about the whole virtue signal signifier–the hidden joke. Virtue is manly. Vir is Latin for man, and it is the root of the Latin, virtus, which means manly. If I were to say to one of these peacocks of the moral pose: “My don’t you look manly today!”, not only would he be embarrassed at the thought of being manly, he’d probably see I was actually joking.

Keep it real. Real men don’t need to virtue signal, real men just do things.

Added 3/1/2017

Then there’s this from the world of social science:

Moral Outrage Is Self-Serving, Say Psychologists

Previous Post

January 31, 2017

The Family that Stays Together Can Pray Together

Next Post

February 7, 2017 Deconstructing Feminized Fatherhood

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advising a Daughter Aristotle Art Atheism Author and Speaking Appearances Beauty Building Working Houses C R Wiley Children Community Creativity Cultural Apologetics Fatherhood Fiction Fidelity in marriage Film Freedom Gravitas H. P. Lovecraft Happiness Household Economy Infant Baptism Inklings Interpreting the Bible Interviews Jack Donovan Liturgy Localism Man of the House Manliness Martial Virtue Medieval Cosmology Metaphysics Mortimus Clay NecronomiCon New Left New Testament Household Codes Nietzsche Nominalism/Realism Politics Poverty Preaching Productive Property Reaching men Science Self-Sufficiency Side Hustles Social Ethics Social Security Spiritual Disciplines Sublime Techno-gnosticism The Pastor's Survival Guide Theology of the Family Tradition Uncategorized Virtue Weird Fiction

Select a Month February 2019 November 2018 October 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What foreign power destroyed Jerusalem, ending the kingdom of Judah?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Egypt Assyria Babylon Persia

Books by This Author Books by PaterFamilias Today

See All Titles »

Books by C. R. Wiley

The Purloined Boy (The Weirdling Cycle #1)

C. R. Wiley

Man of the House: A Handbook for Building a Shelter That Will Last in a World That Is Falling Apart

C. R. Wiley