Virtue signalling is a universal behaviour. The person waving the rainbow flag has a different purpose from the person waving the national flag, but both are virtue signalling in their own way.

Both our flag bearers share another important characteristic: neither would admit to virtue signalling. They might say they are engaged in a campaign. They might say they are celebrating a cause. But they would never admit to virtue signalling.

This denial is understandable because the phrase virtue signalling is nearly always used as an insult. It is nearly always associated with disingenuous behaviour. This is an unfair characterisation of the basic human desire to share the things we find inspirational.

But even if properly understood, the idea of virtue signalling would remain unpopular.

Even the more neutral definition implies that the signaller is motivated by their own gratification. They may be sincere, but they are still absorbed with their own sense of inspiration. The campaigner would not accept that analysis: in their mind they are signalling for the cause, not for themselves.

And there lies an important ambiguity. We have seen that activism combines the personal need for self-expression with the desire to make a positive contribution to society. We rarely acknowledge this plurality because we are not accustomed to the idea of behaviour having more than one motivation. Self criticism is not our strength: it is human nature to attribute our behaviour to the more flattering explanation. So we say that we are engaging in advocacy and nothing more. Even within our own private narrative, we have no conscious purpose of signalling for ourselves. Hence a major reason we deny virtue signalling is that we are simply unaware that we are doing it.

The result is that virtue signalling has the unusual characteristic of a behaviour universally performed yet universally denied. This leads to a quirk of grammar. Virtue signalling is an irregular verb and the correct conjugation is as follows:

Third person: he/ she is virtue signalling

Second person: you are virtue signalling

First person: I am engaged in legitimate advocacy  

Despite its universality, virtue signalling is something done by other people.

_{Isamu Drayya, October 2022}

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