Virtue Signaling

Heard the term "virtue signaling" tossed around?  I'm sure you have, as this is an internet forum.

Let's start slow, INTERNET, GIVE ME A DEFINITION!

the action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue.

"it's noticeable how often virtue signaling consists of saying you hate things"

--

Now recently to give an apolitical example, my father-in-law recently found out a way he could claim money from his stepfather's will (as he has his mother's power of attorney).  Hey, good, the guy could use some money.  He's on the lazy side of things so he hit my wife and her two siblings up to see if they could fill out all the paperwork for him and help him collect the money.  This is normal behavior for him so my wife got ready to do more paperwork for her dad before offering the stipulation that if she helps him with this, he should give a small fraction of the money to his grandchildren (her brother has a kid and her sister has a kid).  My father-in-law was heavily offended at the suggestion, said to forget about it, and he didn't know he'd be hit with virtue signaling.

Now, I'm an evil man, so my immediate thought was "why didn't he just say 'sure', give them twenty bucks/pounds each and call it a day?  He gets other people to do his work for him, and he technically didn't lie [my wife foolishly didn't assign a monetary amount to her stipulation]." but my own villainous nature aside, it followed by the next thought "Has anyone ever complained about virtue signaling without telling someone else 'how dare you have a virtue'?"

I mean, at best, you're accusing people of being prideful and boastful about how good they feel about whatever virtue they're extolling.  (In which case, are you virtue signaling humility?)

Now to make it political, it's a term I mostly see from the right used as an accusation against the left (ignoring the 1960s-2010s where 'church ladies' on the right were still the loudest sources of moral outrage and the left probably could have used the term more often).  Oftentimes it's to criticize someone or some group who says they stand in solidarity with a minority group.

And there are times where these statements are pandering.  "It's cool to support this group, so let's release a statement for them." is a decision made for no reason aside from a bottom line hoping to increase social status of a company or person.

(1) But.... why is that something so awful it needs to be so vehemently opposed?

Like I get opposing what the 'virtue signaling' is opposing, racism is bad.  Homophobia is bad.  I am in opposition to those things.  Some people do view homophobia as virtuous for religious reasons.  (2) When I read their posts on disqus, why do the same people against virtue signaling not call out the same?  (Is it political bias shapes our debates?  It miiiiight be).

(3) So are you familiar with the term?

(4) Have you ever accused anyone of it or been accused of it?  What happened?

(5) What's worse, signaling virtue or opposing virtue?