.......absolutely abhorrent behaviour. Dangerous, and irresponsible.
But, then again, so is this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_signalling
I was curious about the term Virtue-Signalling so I reviewed the references in the referred link and did a further literature review. If you don’t want to read a ton of information this one is a good summation.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/20/virtue-signalling-putdown-passed-sell-by-date
While a rather recent and somewhat interesting concept, Virtue-Signalling has been criticized for having little documented science base but gives the illusion of sounding sciencey. In addition, since the concept of virtue-signalling became popularized, sufficient time has passed to allow for examination and critique and there appears to be some holes in it.
In terms of use as an accusation, it can be used and frequently misused in a very broad and wide ranging manner. What I find the most fascinating about virtue-signalling, is not the concept per say, but rather when the concept was popularized, how quickly and broadly it was weaponized for use in social media as an attack tool. From the paid professional who’s job it is to patrol social media in order to defend the interests (usually political or financial) of their employers or clients, down to the troll in moms basement and the general population with say different political views, it has been used extensively as a tactic to attack the personal credibility of anyone the accuser wants to discredit.
Why bother to craft an argument, position or rebuttal when it is far easier to attack someone personally with an easy cheap shot by accusing or implying that they are virtue-signalling.
My perception is that as a social media attack tool, accusing someone of virtue-signalling has somewhat fallen out of favor. This may be because it has been, misused, overused, lost its clever novelty factor and more easily recognized for what it is. Finally and this is most ironic, the realization by a number of writers that the very act of accusing others of virtue-signalling can itself be interpreted as essentially doing what one is accusing or implying the other of doing.
Lets get this back on topic. I believe it is Impaired boating.
