By Robert Moore
“Virtue signaling” has become a buzz-phrase in political and cultural discourse in recent years, often referencing a person or organization that communicates forcefully about an issue to appeal to their audience or customer base. The prototypical virtue signaler is the social media crusader who engages in highly-visible signaling on profiles, but the label more generally can be applied to anyone whose actions do not, or cannot, align with their strong words.
In this general sense, the crisis involving Ukraine is partially the result of three decades of virtue signaling from the United States and other Western countries toward the former Soviet bloc since the end of the Cold War. Instead of just social media moralizing, we have spent billions of dollars in soft power and political influence attempting to realize an internationalist dream about Europe that is steeped in idealism and ignores substantial obstacles of national interest, balance of power, and history.
This piece was originally published in The Hill on February 1, 2022. Read more HERE.