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by craigzucchini
2618 days ago
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"Listen, I hate virtue signalling as much as the next guy, but have I told you about how I'm using book giving as a vehicle to dismantle racism by proxy of my spouse?" I don't think you could have made this point any better. |
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That said, I'm not calling for the abolition of either public libraries or little free libraries. I'm just saying we need to be clear about our goals when we do things (especially social justice things). If the goal is "put more books in the hands of poor kids" as an act of personal charity, then there are better ways to do it. Hence the example of my spouse.
There's a lot of intellectual dishonesty in the virtue-signaling claims of those in the article. It's not the virtue signaling itself that's the problem, it's being dishonest about the motivations of others for selfish aims.
Why do people put up LFLs? To share something they love. To decorate their yards. As a statement of culture for themselves and their neighborhood. Dismissing it as "virtue signaling" is deliberately derogatory. And this sort of argument is rife in the social justice movement in general. As someone who wears the "social justice warrior" label proudly, I'm not fond of the warriors who prefer circular firing squads.