When Virtual Signalling Comes Back To Bite You
There is nothing more macarbrely fascinating in politics than the virtual signaller hoisted on their own petard.
It has this weird grisly inevitability of a slow-motion train crash that you simply can't turn your eyes away from.
Across the world, the establishment left has made this virtual signalling hari-kari an art form.
The reigning current world champion of this practice, without doubt, is Hilary Clinton who will embrace any cause that can be broken down into monosyllabic slogans and wield them with all the authority that the uncrowned queen of the neo-liberal world commands.
Apparently, Clinton has no memory or believes that the rest of the world has none. How else could she possibly claim to lead the #resistance? (Mc-resistance as Caitlin Johnstone tagged it) when she has been exposed time and again to be in the pockets of corporate bankers? How else could she embrace the "me too" movement with such enthusiasm when she has slut-shamed her husband's accusers?
When she virtual signals you just know it's going to end badly.
It wasn't any surprise when stories emerged of Hilary failing to dismiss a campaign official for sexual harassment. And it wasn't any surprise when true liberals like Jimmy Dore leapt to point out Clinton's hypocrisy. The gag never gets old.
It seems that the establishment left has lost the art of formulating policy and has nothing left in its cupboard except for broad-based feel good motherhood statements that mean little and can be used as a hashtag. They have no intention of doing anything about a problem, they disrespect their audience and followers so much that they think a slogan will suffice. And all the while, their electoral base drifts away from them, confused and alienated by their elitism, shallowness and carelessness.
So, it was with great interest that I watched Joe Kennedy the third gives the democratic party's reply speech to Trump's SOTU speech. Kennedy was touted as a rising star prior to his speech and has a political pedigree that guarantees him publicity. Surely, this was the man to set a new democratic course and enunciate a vision and practical policies to combat the Republicans.
Sadly, I was disappointed.
Kennedy's speech was a classic hodgepodge of catchphrases, talking points and virtual signalling that would have made RFK and JFK cringe. He looked like a little leaguer thrown into the big league - way out of his depth, clutching at familiar touchstones that signaled his Democratic credibility and completely missing the wider audience that need to be wooed and won over. There was no Kennedy magic or courage nor eloquence - just a litany of righteous proclamations that you would expect from a leftist politician born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a sense of entitlement to the keys to the halls of power.
Kennedy showed all the traits of the modern day establishment Democrat or Labour Party politician. He lectured , he preened, he feigned outrage and he lectured. At no time did he offer anything resembling a policy or a fact that could have countered Trump's speech.
As an exercise in virtial signalling it was a masterpiece. However, if he wanted to portray a politician with integrity, courage and ideas, he could have spent some time studying his grandfather's speech. It appeared to me, at least, that he has a long way to go before he could presume to be compared to his forebears.
As it stands, young Joe may well wrest Hilary's virtual signalling crown from her.