"Much of the anti-this&that we see on the internet is virtue signaling our membership in a tribe that we identify ourselves in"
Absolutely. See also the blind adherence to lies or completely illogical positions; Trump won the election, all white people are racist, trans women competing in female sport is fair. All of these are logically i…
"Much of the anti-this&that we see on the internet is virtue signaling our membership in a tribe that we identify ourselves in"
Absolutely. See also the blind adherence to lies or completely illogical positions; Trump won the election, all white people are racist, trans women competing in female sport is fair. All of these are logically incoherent positions that would have been utterly rejected what? Ten years ago? Now, depending on which side of the aisle you pledge allegiance to, these are part of your orthodoxy.
And this allows us to move beyond thinking and learning and nuance, anybody who won't say the right words is on "the other side." Regardless of anything else they might say or do.
What's truly maddening is that most people, on either side, can see this. They're just too afraid of the backlash to say so. So we end up with these all-or-nothing, "with us or against us," conversations.
"Much of the anti-this&that we see on the internet is virtue signaling our membership in a tribe that we identify ourselves in"
Absolutely. See also the blind adherence to lies or completely illogical positions; Trump won the election, all white people are racist, trans women competing in female sport is fair. All of these are logically incoherent positions that would have been utterly rejected what? Ten years ago? Now, depending on which side of the aisle you pledge allegiance to, these are part of your orthodoxy.
And this allows us to move beyond thinking and learning and nuance, anybody who won't say the right words is on "the other side." Regardless of anything else they might say or do.
What's truly maddening is that most people, on either side, can see this. They're just too afraid of the backlash to say so. So we end up with these all-or-nothing, "with us or against us," conversations.