I do just love it when folks dis voting or action or anything like that. Oh don't do stuff because its not going to work or your just trying to make yourself feel good. eff off bootlickers and everyone do whatever you feel you need to (do try to always vote with some judiciousness and conscientiousness).
The term has been diluted I guess, or this is a strawman. I've never seen real life protests or action called "virtue signaling" before. That's absurd.
Back when I first started seeing the term used online, somewhere around 2009-2013, it was being used to describe the non-religious version of people making "hopes and prayers" comments online.
Like people using filters over their Facebook profile image to raise awareness of something and then patting themselves on the back for a job well done. That problem sure was solved!
You think something the Russian invasion of Ukraine is bad? And you feel that so strong you're going to make a post online about it? You sure showed Putin with that one!
At least taken in the most forgiving light, it was sneering at the type of people who were explicitly preformative with their sense of justice. The type of people to do the day of silence about LGBT bullying, who would then strut around afterwards as if to say "We did it gang! We solved LGBT hate!" Then continue to use LGBT terms in derogatory ways and bully LGBT people.
I always thought the phrase was pretty self explanatory. It's virtue signalling, not seeking, not spreading, not defending, not living, not actually embodying.
This wouldn't be the first time this comic creator made a strip against something that seems to be a ridiculous strawman to me though.
The term has since been wrongfully used (by mostly anti-social-justice folks) to criticize anything that is in any way "showy", even things like protests (which aren't performative but demanding attention) or direct action have been called virtue signaling as a way of denigrating the righteous indignation of people stepping up for a good cause.
It's an easy way for assholes to criticize anything that's stepping up for a good cause as soon as it draws media attention.
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