It’s been a while since we’ve been so focused on war, and it’s the first time in human history we’ve been able to be this focused on war.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has broken our hearts and angered our souls, and rightly so. War is evil. Vladimir Putin’s ruthless acts of violence are disgusting, and we should condemn them.
But there’s a difference between righteous anger and righteous self-centeredness.
I’m afraid we’ve fallen too far toward self-centeredness.
If we’re not careful, we’ll end up virtue signaling on dead bodies.
As Russia bombs Ukrainian civilians, we’ve decided to join their fight by standing in solidarity with Ukraine and opposing Russia. That’s great, but we have to be careful not to use the tragedy of others to paint ourselves as good people. We can’t let our justified disgust with Russia turn us into overzealous symbolic activists, pretending to care about the lives of Ukrainians while focusing on our own images.
I’m not arguing that we remain silent on the war in Ukraine. By all means, speak up and post about your support for Ukraine. But I do want us to be wise and honest about our motivations.
Self-centeredness can overtake us through even small acts, like changing our profile pictures to Ukrainian flags and posting hashtags like #StandWithUkraine and #PrayForUkraine. It’s not that these things are wrong—that’s not what I’m worried about. It’s that these things can make us feel like we’re doing something about the war—make us feel like we’re just as brave as the Ukrainian men and women being fired upon by Russian forces. We’re not.
Let’s remember our place and stand for Ukraine without bringing attention to our own virtue. Here are some extreme examples of what using this war to virtue signal looks like:
A college in Italy reportedly suspended a course on Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky because of Russia’s aggression. Clearly, to remove a course on one of the most influential opponents of Russian tyranny is ridiculously ignorant, and it reveals the lengths we’re willing to go to prove our virtue—so far as to ignore common sense. The university’s decision led to obvious outrage, and it eventually reversed its decision.
Another example is video game company EA Sports removing Russian national teams from its FIFA and NHL games. Taking a team off a video game does absolutely nothing to either help Ukraine or punish Russia. It’s a symbolic gesture, much like some obsessions with pouring vodka down the drain. Of course, these gestures aren’t inherently wrong and could even be decent statements to make, but if we’re not careful, getting behind and promoting these ineffective symbols can be motivated merely by a desire to appear righteous. It can lead us to virtue signal on dead bodies.
It’s good to stand against Vladimir Putin’s evil, but we don’t stand against evil by bringing attention to our own virtue.
Just as our hatred and anger must be directed toward the source of injustice, Vladimir Putin, not the Russian people, our love and support must be directed toward the victims of injustice, the Ukrainians, not ourselves.
Let’s oppose those who bring violence and tyranny and support those who seek peace and freedom. But while we stand with Ukraine for solidarity, let’s be careful not to stand on top of them for likes.
Nice job. This is a “sticky” subject. It’s hard to tell what is truth and what is not truth. We need to focus on our own issues as Americans like, open borders, unconstitutional mandates, a stolen presidential election, absolute corrupt media etc. We should care about and show our concern for others in foreign lands, but we should also keep our priorities in order and make sure our own country is where it should be morally so we do not appear as hypocrites or disillusioned. Thanks Zach! Love your work!