[matthewmacleod]

There's definitely a real reason there, which is the same one that people from my parents' generation had when waving around the phrase "political correctness gone mad". I guess you'd rather ironically call it "virtue signalling". But I agree there's not likely to be much chance of having a constructive discussion with someone taking that approach.

[weakfish]

Is virtue signaling ironic? I'm not sure what you mean by that point. However, I agree that it's a big turnoff to engage with someone using that language because it seems as if they already have their mind made up.