Flagging Your Virtues: Is It Worth It?

 I want to talk about internet posting and discourse; most prominently, virtue flagging, which is the act of making a post to signal to others your thoughts on often controversial subjects. We've all done it, I've done it; it's how we communicate to people whom we agree with that we're not only on their side, but that we can be trusted. Saying something like: "trans lives matter!" (which they obviously do.)

 The problem I have with virtue signaling, is that when it comes to some topics, I'm a bit of a fence sitter, or I have qualifications to my thoughts. This can get not only the people whose side your lean towards angry, but everyone involved angry. It's nerve wracking to put your thoughts out there, especially if you add a qualification.

 For me, these nerves would be much calmer if people didn't attempt to straw-man your argument, or gang up on you; perhaps going as far as to say you're "problematic", which fortunately hasn't happened to me yet. I'm willing to be proven wrong on a lot of things, and discourse would be to much easier if people would enter in fair debate, rather than attempt to vilify you. I've been on social media sites that do this, and it's poisoned my experience on sharing opinions online.

Then of course, there's the idea that what you say might not matter in the slightest; that you may be sticking your neck out for no reason other than to potentially piss people off. People don't change their minds easily, so even if you think what you say is right, the people who disagree with you will dig into their beliefs even deeper. It's depressing to think about.

I don't have a solution here. Any behavioral change I could suggest isn't going to fix the whole world. I suppose I just wanted to vent a little. But I will leave you with this: If you see me online, and you disagree with something I've said, please know I'm willing to enter conversation with you, and perhaps, change my mind about what I've said.

Stay strong - Wolf out