Stanford Review: Millennials Need to Stop Virtue-Signaling and Educate Themselves Politically
"We do not hesitate to shut down the dissenting opinions of those within our own communities."
11.2.2016
11
An opinion writer at The Stanford Review Monday urged fellow millennials to cease their shallow virtue-signaling and start acquiring a deeper understanding of complex political issues.
In "Millennials and the Decline of Political Thought," Berber Jin complained that "[t]he political involvement of our generation is becoming increasingly devoid of substance":
[T]he disturbingly reductionist approach we take in responding to such problems reflects a troubling trend that is taking root amongst millennials: a tendency to morally simplify complex political issues. We “virtue signal,” expressing viewpoints that are trending in our communities to fulfill our own narcissistic desires for acceptance.Fueled by the rise of social media, engaging in the nuances of policy is sacrificed in the name of moral clarity as we jump to self-righteous conclusions to satisfy an online audience. Dialogue becomes obsolete, preventing us from appreciating the complexity of today’s thorniest issues and from being able to generate solutions to society’s most pressing problems.
Arguing that social media platforms encourage "armchair activists" to engage in the least effective gestures of political change: "brief affirmations of solidarity," Jin writes that rather than take time to understand the candidates and the issues, fellow millennials look for "a convenient way to bandwagon onto the trending, progressive movements of our generation."
Jin even called out social justice warriors for their very non-diverse totalitarianism: "[W]e do not hesitate to shut down the dissenting opinions of those within our own communities."
"Virtue signaling is easy," Jin concludes. It "does not require us to be educated about policy, only that we distill complex moral and social problems into a memorable hashtag or Facebook post. We become accepted by our communities, receiving the external validation we so often seek on social media."
"It is our responsibility to deviate from such a culture and engage in the harder task of understanding the nuances and moral complexity of current issues."
Read the whole short piece linked above.
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