There are people who are virtuous and there are people who are not and so cover themselves in symbols to mask their lack.
Whenever I see a yard sign declaring “hate has no home here”, I am certain I will be overwhelmed with the owner’s hatred if I don’t hold to his rigid and unforgiving ideology.
Whenever I see a bumper sticker declaring “I believe in science”, I have no doubt the driver thinks of scientists like the ancients thought of oracles and science itself like magic.
Whenever I see a shirt emblazoned with “love is love”, I know the wearer, with all the nuanced understanding of a troglodyte, can’t tell the difference between the extremes of perverted lust and dying to save a life.
But when I see the fruits of an ordered life, I don’t wonder about virtue.
Just discovered your blog, and enjoy what I’m reading so far. This really resonates with me. “Virtue signaling” as indicated in your examples is all about narcissistic self-promotion and declaring vices to be goods. But the well-ordered life really does shine out of the darkness and puts the lie to the loud gesticulations of the wicked and their false morality.
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