I wrote this up as a reply to someone on r/TrueChristian, but thought you might enjoy this as well. The original thread is here.


There are different types of virtue signaling, but an easy (albeit not perfect) test to distinguish virtue signaling from authentic concern is if the person is presenting an accurate and balanced representation within a situation (Non-VS) or if they are: (1) ignoring one perspective to focus exclusively on the other, usually skewing or exaggerating facts to be falsely persuasive (Biased VS), or (2) present inflamatory characterizations of an issue and half-baked or extreme solutions that don't actually solve problems (Angry VS), or (3) express condescending affection for the "other" (Faux-Compassion VS).

To use a less political example ...

  • Angry VS: Porn is the worst sin ever. It destroys marriages and makes men slaves to sin. Anyone who watches porn is depraved and needs Jesus. I used to watch porn, but I'll never do that again, now that I know how bad it is. And think of all the women who are coerced to join or stay in the porn industry and all the way watching porn encourages the industry to take advantage of these women! If you watch porn, do you even have a heart? Of course not. Porn watchers aren't godly at all. Every guy who watches porn should chop his peter off. That's what I think about porn and people who watch it!

  • Biased VS: We should all be concerned with porn use. It's the biggest sin men face. If a guy can get past his porn issue, he can get past anything. But most men can't because they aren't disciplined or spiritually mature enough. They love their sin too much. Virtually every marriage that ends in divorce has probably had some connection with porn watching. If we could put an end to porn, divorce rates would drop way down and families would be much happier overall. [Note how it sounds rational, yet is full of misinformation and a failure of understanding the struggle of those who do watch porn.]

  • Faux Compassion VS: It's sad how many people watch porn these days. My heart breaks for them. They don't know how destructive it is. If they could only see into the heart the way God does, they'd see that it's killing them! I pray for them regularly - that God would pull them out of such a dangerous state. I care about them and want to see them healed and come to repentance. Who will pray with me for this hurting community so they can be better and more godly [implicitly: "like me"].

  • Authentic Concern: Porn is sin. It needs to be dealt with. But it's not the only sin out there that men and women face, and often times it's interwoven with other issues. For example, 1 Cor. 7:5 tells husbands and wives not to deprive each other. Some men and women turn to porn because their spouse is denying them a valid sexual outlet. And it's all that much harder for single people who have no legitimate sexual expression at all. That doesn't make it right, but understanding that some people are sexually starved rather than sexually addicted can help us re-frame the issue in a way that is productive toward finding solutions instead of demonizing porn use without equally calling out the sexual denial that is pushing many people toward porn in the first place. Rather than shaming porn use without understanding the struggles of those who are caught in it, let's explore some strategies we could implement to help people solve the core issues at play in things like pornography use, sexual denial, and managing pre-marital sexual impulses.

Now, it's possible that some people speak in VS-type language who aren't intending to virtue signal. Rather, they may simply just be impassioned and ignorant. That's a very, very dangerous position to be in too.

Also, realistically, we know that a person could learn how to communicate in a way that seems authentic, while still doing it for the goal of virtue signaling (even if he wouldn't necessarily call it that). But the times that people have genuine concern while communicating it in an angry, biased, or over-the-top concerned manner seem to be much rarer. Specifically ...

  • Anger VS: If you were truly that passionate about the issue, you'd be doing more to understand it and the people on the other side who are struggling or don't even think it's wrong to begin with. Rather than making them your enemies, you'd make them your target ministry demographic.

  • Biased VS: If you truly cared about the issue or were as knowledgeable as you pretend to be, you'd give credit to the opposing viewpoints and show empathy for those who hold them rather than trying to straw-man the easy arguments to overcome.

  • Faux Compassion VS: If you truly loved the people who are struggling as much as you say you do, you'd have spent enough time with them to recognize that there's more going on than the black-and-white portrayal than we like to paint.

Now, obviously I'm making up these different types of virtue signaling based on my own observations. It's not like there's a manual out there that explains any of this (at least as far as I've seen). I could put other flags out there, like stereotyping, silent virtue signaling, etc., but I don't have the time to sit down and be completely comprehensive about this.

What's important to remember in the reverse is that people who virtue-signal tend to have their own internal pain that leads them to it - and that needs to be recognized too so that those of us they are signaling against can remember that we ought to respond with love and compassion rather than hatred and nastiness at their accusations and false characterizations of us.