Peacocking and Virtue Signaling are both grounded in the same root, in Nature, specifically in Mammalian heterosexual mating-rituals, where males (and sometimes females) exhibit to potential mates, or even those around them who are not mates, their sexual (and thereby their Societal) value. This generally means that an individual “chooses” to handicap him/herself, voluntarily, as a show and demonstration of one’s virility or fertility. Much of the flaunting is braggadocious: “Look everybody, at how much weight I can bench-press, aren’t I so great!? Aren’t I so strong!? Nobody can bench-press this much weight! Stand and be amazed by me! Other males bow to me; females flock to my side and mate with me!”
However, apply this ‘peacocking’ not only to mate-selection… but to everything else in life: society, class, lifestyle, health, diet, online media, consumed media, etc. A wealthy person then, flaunts and demonstrates all of these, by… attending the opera, driving or being driven by chauffeurs, in sports cars or other luxurious vehicles, private jets, etc. Even the small town, local drunkard, is loud, obnoxious, and attention-seeking in his ability to ‘drink’ any newcomer or visitor under the table. So these ‘peacocking’ mannerisms are not only about sexual mate-selection… but also directly about demonstrating to everybody else that crosses path in life, where your position is on Social Hierarchies – whether you are on the low end or high end.
Most people engage in these activities subconsciously and unconsciously, down to the very level of ideological beliefs. Here is where things get interesting.
Consider the BLM riots, Antifa marches, LGBTQ+ identities, or any other Leftist political cause. Also consider a Protestant Church’s organization, dogmatic adherence to religious beliefs, donating and tithing to the Mormon Church, etc. Whether Left or Right, the masses engage strenuously in these virtue-signaling (Peacocking) behaviors, to demonstrate their contribution, and their social-value, in their respective organizations and tiers of society. So when a white woman dates, marries, or has children with a black man, this is also her ‘virtue-signaling’ to others in society, that she can “race mix” with no negative repercussions. She is, supposedly, ‘above’ all the Conservative institutions and beliefs that would attempt to shame, punish, and exile her. Likewise, when a transexual Protestant “Priest” dons rainbow attire, and declares his church followers as “True Followers of Christ”, this is another demonstration of how ‘above’ classical and traditional standards, this particular covenant is or can be.
In all of these, though, the actual virtue “Signal” is a rebuke of other peoples’ values and beliefs. Groups are at odds with each-other. And whether one group comes out ahead, in the end… whether one group succeeds or rises to prominence, or political power, this is what (almost every?) group aspires toward: Legitimacy. By attaining political and social power, by becoming “accepted” by the “Mainstream”, all of these mean that your peacocking and virtue signaling is not, or has not, amounted to Nothing… that it was not a failure. And more so, that those who initiated the change, were Successful by doing so.
So how far does this rabbit-hole go? How much does it affect a person, or society’s, core-beliefs and core-values? How much of what YOU believe is or can be affected, by conflicting values of what precisely is signaled, to be your own Virtue?
