The word virtue has long been understood as living with a degree of moral uprightness or goodness.
Even ancient philosophers like Plato regarded virtue as knowing what is good and then doing it.
Today, however, many people mistake merely putting on the appearance of virtue for the challenging work of bringing their behavior in line with what is good.
This is why virtue signaling is so fashionable today.
A person who virtue signals only needs to parrot the most fashionable platitudes of the day.
This is most often seen in various symbols that reflect the “current thing” that all good people must support in order to be seen as in step with conventional wisdom.
But this approach tends to water down the definition of virtue into a simple statement of agreement with whatever the crowd says is currently in vogue.
Virtue is doing the right thing regardless of what others might say about us.
As James Walpole puts it:
“Virtue is much, much harder to acquire, and it will probably not bring you accolades when you first begin to follow it. But the feeling of growth and meaning from living virtuously is much realer than the feeling of pride in having better beliefs than your ancestors.”
It’s easy to declare one’s support of or opposition to a particular cause.
But actually living as a decent person who exhibits personal excellence in his or her decisions at all times, requires real effort.
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