'Virtue Signalling' is not about whether someone 'cares' about racism, it's about wether their actions amount to anything material or relevant.

Almost everyone actually 'cares' about racism, at least in classical, crude forms. If someone calls a black person the 'n-word' - almost everyone 'cares' enough to know this is wrong.

But there are any number of people who Tweet this, say that, or even take some action that is utterly irrelevant to the material nature of advancing the cause, but a the same time, they are embellishing their own position or status.

'Personal Branding' is the living job of every actor, politician and political figure. That's 95% of their job. The statements they make are mostly about engendering to and audience.

A good example is the Gavin Newsom's wife, who has declared that she will be the 'First Partner' - and not the 'First Lady' of California because the term 'Lady' is 'exclusionary'.

I don't doubt there's materiality to her statement; she probably does 'care' about the issue on some level - but I doubt deeply that her actions matter and that this is mostly an opportunity for her to make a 'public statement' that the press will like, hop on, propagate, which endows here with 'progressive credibility' to possible voters. I significantly doubt she would ever do such a thing outside the context of the political lens. To boot - it's also counter productive because the term 'Wife' or 'First Lady' is in no way exclusionary. It's gendered yes, but no more so than we used gendered pronouns 'he' and 'she'. It's 'invented equality' that serves no purpose other than a nice bit of PR. That is 'virtue signalling'. [1]

A very excessive, fascist example of 'Virtue Signalling' from the Mayor of Oakland just this week. She initiated an FBI 'hate crime' investigation into some ropes hanging from a tree in the park. Those ropes were there to hold swings for kids, ironically put there by someone in the Black community. Nobody had complained or thought this 'kids equipment' was symbolic of anything, there was no public intrigue - but the Mayor took it upon herself to make a big fuss about it. To make the situation 'scary Orwellian' her public statement was that 'Intentions Don't Matter'. Read that again and consider the consequences. A swing set in a park in her view, is construed as a 'hate crime' irrespective of the fact that it's merely a swing set, not indicative of anything, placed there by a black man, in which nobody had any complaints. This is the Mayor of a major US city, who has initiated FBI investigations which could destroy people's lives, for absolutely no reason. [2]

The reason this is 'Virtue Signalling' - is because nobody outside of political theatre cares and the issue is irrelevant. Why was it only the 'mayor' who had to invent non-existent hate crimes? If there were any legitimacy at all to the situation, others would clearly be concerned. But there was no concern. The excessive, fascist reaction by the Mayor is therefore vapid, it's utterly political. It's an attempt to engender her credibility as a 'force against racism' - even at the cost of using the power of violence of the state over common sense. But like Trump supporters wouldn't condemn him 'if he shot someone' ... her supporters won't condemn her for her ridiculous display either.

A less extreme but more relevant example would be Alexandria Occasio-Cortez total rejection of Amazon's bid for a major HQ in NYC. Both the Democratic Governor, and 'far left' wing Democratic Mayor were both 'extremely' in favour of the opportunity, with Amazon to bring in thousands of very good, high paying jobs, along with so much incremental surplus. They were to receive the same support from the city/state that any other company gets. AOC rejected the offer because of Amazon's unwillingness to work with her directly by making $$$ investments in schools, and other things. Ironically, even the majority of people of colour in her district supported Amazons bid which puts her at odds with basically everyone that matters. Amazon is not some 'evil corporate devil' - they're a big, succesfull company, and the elevated taxation and incidental business from them is probably the closest thing any city could get to 'organic development' - which is to say 'things working well as they should' without having to resort to arbitrary distributions of wealth etc.. AOC knows this. In any other condition, I believe she would probably support Amazon's bid - but in a political context, she defines herself as an antagonist against 'evil corporations'. She can't 'support Amazon', that would be akin to making a deal with the Devil, at least in her popular, bombastic personal branding. From a marketing perspective, AOC is exactly on point to 'fight Amazon' even if in reality, it's possibly the best thing that could ever happen for her district (I understand it's not all roses, but overall, it would be good). So this is a toxic example of 'Virtue Signalling' wherein we don't doubt the ultimate sincerity of the individual, but where their motives are inconsistent with their actions, which are actually detrimental.

Finally - though we don't use it in this context too often, 'Virtue Signalling' could be equally applied to other things such as flag waving by fools who actually don't materially care about the nation, or those who espouse Christianity but really are the furthest thing from it. Donald Trump holding up a Bible (upside down no less) for a photo-op a few weeks ago is a repulsive form of 'Virtue Signalling' because, though surely he thinks he cares about America and probably thinks he's a 'good Christian' - the man probably hasn't been in a Church in 20 years and generally has nothing to do with it.

Every corporation is in the business of perception. AirBnB has a very expensive PR agency who will oversee their public announcements. Every politician and celebrity has power because they have carefully shaped their public image, not because they have necessarily 'done anything'. In many cases, they are 'talented' or 'are business with good intentions' or 'have accomplishments' but it doesn't matter - if they are going to be playing the 'message spinning game' we should absolutely be cynical. If they want something from you: sales, popularity for their career, votes - they are marketing to you.

[1] https://time.com/5499825/newsom-first-partner-first-lady/

[2] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ropes-resembling-nooses...