On Virtue Signalling

03 Jan 2025 | ~3 minute read

Some thoughts from me about virtue signalling and why I think it's a pointless exercise.

There's been a bit of confusion about this post, maybe it wasn't clear because it was written in haste, but this post is about people who choose not to use a product for whatever reason, trying to impose that decision on others.

I think it's right that folk boycott services if they feel strongly about the social or political opinions of the people involved, but I also think that attempting to impose those opinions on others is bad.

For example, saying "I would never buy a Tesla because Musk is a dick" vs "you shouldn't buy a Tesla because Musk is a dick."

For the record, Musk is a dick and I'd never buy a Tesla. 🙃

I've had this one in my drafts for a few months now, but I haven't got around to writing it. I decided to change that after reading Grubz's post on his thoughts on Kagi.

In the post, he says:

I swore off of them for a while after the little bit of drama about integrating Brave Search, but who really gives a shit, you know? You gotta pick your battles. Separate the art from the artist.

I couldn't agree more, and this was the point of the post I've had in draft. Some of the virtue signalling I've seen in recent times include:

There's definitely more, but these are just the ones I've had noted down recently. I'm not saying that the issues people raise are not important. Because they most definitely are. If you're homophobic, I'm probably going to think you're a scumbag and we're unlikely get along. Same if you have extreme political views. But I'm not going to stop using your product just because I think you're an arsehole.

Having said that, if you choose not to use these products because of said arseholes, that's your perogative; I won't tell you otherwise. I'm just saying I don't understand it.

Now, what does get on my tits is when people tell me I shouldn't be using [product] because the founder/CEO/whatever is a dick. And it gets even worse -- and I've seen this happen many times on the fedi -- when folk imply that as users of the product we're also a bad people, just for using the product.

That's usually the point at which I make use of the mute button with reckless abandon.

Anyway, all this reminds me of a great post by Nigel on Virtue Signals, it's a great read and was the impetus for me creating the draft in the first place.

Ultimately, if you feel strongly about not using a product, that's up to you. But trying to impose your views on others is not cool. Instead, why not try politely letting them know about your concerns in case they weren't aware, and then leave them to make up their own mind.

As far as Kagi is concerned, I didn't like it first time around, but I've been giving it another go for a few months now, and so far I'm really happy. I'll probably write a follow up post about that soon.

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