Spoken like a person of these very specific times. Some of us have lived a goodly time when "signaling" meant no more that that your bridge partner should fold or you could proceed across the intersection when the lights were out when the cop signaled you onward. Imagine: living at a time absent "influencers" "selfies" "Facebook and Twitter" . Some of us vote privately - we don't use it to tell anyone anything to gain a faux sense of self-importance/value from others approving or disapproving how we vote. Your experience of signaling to gain ego significance together with your remarkably intense cynicism perhaps reflectsa generational difference.
It can be an act of self-deception, like the people who donate a penny to a McDonalds charity box and think they're making a world of change. They don't broadcast either - it is feel good tokenism.
People throw votes because to admit voting does not work is to acknowledge they'd need to take some other course of action, and cowardice runs rampant in this day and age. Easier to self-delude, pretend the voting works. They have voting in the CCP... no matter who you vote for, it is still CCP.
And people wonder why the Chinese never revolt and overthrow their oppressive overlords...
I suspect it is human nature to submit and comply. 2020 taught me that much.
Spoken like a person of these very specific times. Some of us have lived a goodly time when "signaling" meant no more that that your bridge partner should fold or you could proceed across the intersection when the lights were out when the cop signaled you onward. Imagine: living at a time absent "influencers" "selfies" "Facebook and Twitter" . Some of us vote privately - we don't use it to tell anyone anything to gain a faux sense of self-importance/value from others approving or disapproving how we vote. Your experience of signaling to gain ego significance together with your remarkably intense cynicism perhaps reflectsa generational difference.
Virtue signalling does not have to be public.
It can be an act of self-deception, like the people who donate a penny to a McDonalds charity box and think they're making a world of change. They don't broadcast either - it is feel good tokenism.
People throw votes because to admit voting does not work is to acknowledge they'd need to take some other course of action, and cowardice runs rampant in this day and age. Easier to self-delude, pretend the voting works. They have voting in the CCP... no matter who you vote for, it is still CCP.
And people wonder why the Chinese never revolt and overthrow their oppressive overlords...
I suspect it is human nature to submit and comply. 2020 taught me that much.