I’m not sure what irks me more: the performative vulnerability or the performative empathy (in response). Both make it close to impossible for the genuinely vulnerable and empathetic to be heard, and believed.
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It’s a very tight call but I’d probably suggest that performative empathy *just* scrapes in ahead of performative vulnerability, although there is far too much of both!
Hbomberguy once made a video about virtue signalling and how it's become a knee-jerk insult used by the Right.
One point Hbomberguy made was how if you issue a kind, inclusive or respectful statement to gain favour with a group, that doesn't necessarily invalidate the moral good of the statement.
I can see that argument carrying weight with respect to faux empathy (assuming the empath is unaware the vulnerability they’re responding to is performative). What would you say the moral good of faux vulnerability is?
I suppose a show of vulnerability, as long as it isn't on-the-nose or appropriative, could still be good for solidarity. Some may do it to demonstrate their sincere care for the disadvantaged or persecuted even if they don't share said hardship (though actual help is better than a show of sympathy).
The landscape of that's is definitely not simple, especially as it's also possible to be vulnerable when one can afford it, without even wishing for a particularly empathetic response
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One point Hbomberguy made was how if you issue a kind, inclusive or respectful statement to gain favour with a group, that doesn't necessarily invalidate the moral good of the statement.