Comment on Switch 2 Breaks Records By Selling Over 3.5 Million Units In Four Days

• n0face@lemmy.wtf ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I have thought about it and it is interesting that “virtue signal” is such a dirty word now. When I say “please” and “thank you” I’m essentially just virtue signaling that I’m willing to play nice

  “Virtue signalling” implies a level of hypocrisy. Like, you don’t really care about the underlying issue, and only cares in reality to look like you do.

  When you say “please” and “thank you” you are being polite. You may be “virtue signalling” politeness when in truth you are an asshole, but I would be unable to tell, so I give the benefit of doubt.

  By the way, I dislike the term “virtue signalling” as I think it was overused to the point of meaninglessness, and I have an issue with that. On top of that, sometimes performative actions do matter to call attention to a given cause. Things are more nuanced sometimes.

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• Goronmon@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  On the plus side, the virtue signalers saved $ and can spend it on something that’ll bring them more joy and is hopefully more aligned with their views. And gives them practice and a mindset of “I’m the kind of person willing to boycott” for any other boycotts that might have a real effect someday.

  It’s not really a boycott if you never really planned on buying the product. I’m technically boycotting Apple and Ford. Because I don’t buy Apply products and I don’t buy Ford cars.

  When I say “please” and “thank you” I’m essentially just virtue signaling that I’m willing to play nice…

  Those are specific actions you are taking in being kind and nice towards another person in reality. However, if you were to make a comment on Lemmy about how kind of a person you are because you claim you say “please” and “thank you” all the time, then that would be virtue signaling, because making claims about what you do or care about on social media is relatively meaningless without the specific actions being taken outside of that context.

  So, in this case, talking about how evil Nintendo is for pricing a game at $80, what does that do exactly? Why should anyone else listen or care about someone expressing that opinion? Are you joining activist groups and spending time or money pushing for laws/politicians/etc to enact change to fight back against these actions? If so, then that’s not virtue signaling. But I’m unconvinced most people expressing this opinions and upvoting/downvoting posts and comments are doing anything beyond exactly that.

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  • Elevator7009@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Most charitable interpretation: social pressure to get others to not buy, thereby hurting Nintendo just that bit more. I can say I was planning on buying a Switch at one point, but all these comments and news posts about anticompetitive practices have turned me away and slotted me in the “not buying” category.

    Somewhat charitable interpretation: maybe venting outrage? Frustration at being the little guy in this situation who can’t do much? If you hate homelessness you can go volunteer at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter, but if you hate these rising prices not much I’m aware of that you can do besides raging online and hoping you turn others away from buying. Although to be fair, you just proposed some things.

    I don’t care too much about virtue signaling. What bothers me is people getting nasty and personal, and unfortunately that often happens in Company Does Bad Thing comment sections, so I’ve learned not to click on them. I should probably change that to big company news at all. Thanks for not being awful to me in this discussion, I was half-convinced I should remove the comment you replied to too to avoid someone engaging with me in an unpleasant manner. But I get how virtue signaling can annoy others.

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