How to Virtue Signal the “Right” Way

I’m a participant/supporter/fan^[1] of many “virtuous” movements (e.g., veganism, sustainability, effective altruism, and some “woke” social trends) but I’m often skeptical of my in-groups’ signaling tactics towards the out-groups.^[2] Despite a tendency to ruffle feathers, I actually want these movements to succeed. I understand virtue signaling can help normalize pro-social (yet perhaps uncommon) behaviors ^[3] and it’s certainly better than vice signaling, which is becoming rampant among the sociopolitical right. However, I think the main danger of virtue signaling is precisely becoming so obnoxious to the out-group that they vice signal in return: “all lives matter”/white nationalism against BLM; “straight pride”/strict gender binarism against LGBTQ+; fanatical Zionism against “from the river to the sea;” carnivore diet against veganism.

As a community go-betweener who was born in poverty, lived in a hippie commune, went to school with nepo/trust fund babies, worked with conservative mega-donors, and dated partners anywhere from (self-proclaimed) communist to capitalist / libertarian to authoritarian, I am constantly adapting my signaling strategies towards a diverse audience. Here I compile my top takeaways on how to influence the out-groups more effectively. ^[4]

1. Show over tell

   In this context, “tell” denotes prescriptive actions (whether verbal or not) whereas “show” denotes descriptive actions, i.e. how you live your life day-to-day. Using veganism as an example, “tell” can be protesting in a McDonald’s and urging the customers to go vegan and “show” can be cooking a vegan meal for friendsgiving while taking everyone’s preferences/restrictions into consideration. It’s easy to be turned off by someone yelling at you over your Big Mac, but it’s much easier to appreciate good food while listening to the cook talk about their (food) philosophy. This doesn’t mean you can/should never “tell” others what to do but the “telling” needs to complement and not replace the “showing.”

2. Nuance over quips/headlines

   The vice-against-virtue signaling examples above are full of slogans. I believe quips invite counter-quips and kill nuance. While catchy phrases are unavoidable to popularize a movement, I think it’s best to refrain from one-liners when “telling” (see 1) others what to do. For instance, most pro-Israel groups interpret “from the river to the sea” as a call for Palestine to subsume Israel and thus deem it as antisemitic hate speech. I cannot say no pro-Palestine individuals use the phrase this way, yet I definitely know some Palestine supporters who don’t mean it this way (i.e., they’re calling for self-determination for all people in this region, Palestinians and Jews). When we get hung up on catchy phrases or only the headline of an idea (e.g., Do you believe in longtermism - yes or no?), we lose the chance to truly engage with each other on a solution/middle ground.

3. Concrete over conceptual

   Anti-immigration people in my circles are never mean to me, an immigrant in all countries I’ve lived in since 15. Even racist people happily go to immigrant-run restaurants and receive immigrant-provided services. They may genuinely think “most Diego’s are criminals that should not be allowed in my country but my plumber Diego is an honest and hard-working man.” Humanizing the beneficiaries of the social cause (with real examples because generic “Mr. Mexican,” or if you’re Chuck Schumer, “The Baileys,” doesn’t exist) wins you half the battle and makes it literally inhumane to counter with vice signaling. This step is even more important when we advocate for sentient beings that aren't humans.

4. Destination over journey

   The outcome matters more than the method when promoting social causes (i.e., you want the beneficiaries to actually benefit), so emphasize why the outcome is desirable and tailor the reasoning to the out-group. For instance, assure your neighbor that the plumber Diego offers the best service at the best price and you’ll be bringing him more income + respect without needing to mention (though you still can mention) how hard it was for his family to cross the border. If animal welfare activists could have convinced DeSantis that lab-grown meat is a crucial part of the US food self-sufficiency and security strategy (US is a net-importer in agriculture generally as well as in beef specifically), then no slaughterhouse footage or EA talk would be required to pave the way for a future where lab-grown meat becomes so economical and nutritious (maybe with the help of AI) that there is no reason for factory farming.

5. Agency over patronization/sycophancy

   When influencing the out-group, it's most effective to build rapport and communicate on an equal footing rather than being overly obsequious (rarely a failure mode among EAs from my observation, but definitely among the performative feminist males) or overly condescending (I sometimes observe this failure mode among EAs). What you're influencing others to do may objectively be better than what they're currently doing, yet the higher goal of influencing is to make the audience internalize that the option you're presenting is also subjectively better and that they're enacting their full agency to take it.

1. ^{^}

   As per Matt's analogy to sports fans in his "12 Theses on EA."

2. ^{^}

   I wrote about some issues I had with EA's signaling around the 10% pledge in a previous post. This post only tackles the in-group's signaling to the out-group and not how in-group members signal to each other, which could become toxic in a different way.

3. ^{^}

   Thanks to @Kevin Xia 🔸 for directing me to this article.

^{^}

I'm choosing to include some examples beyond EA to illustrate a wider applicability.

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