A Cancer of the Soul

Sentimentality and virtue signaling have resulted in a fatal spiritual condition.

Vladimir Nabokov once remarked about the vice of sentimentality:

We must distinguish between ‘sentimental’ and ‘sensitive’. A sentimentalist may be a perfect brute in his free time. A sensitive person is never a cruel person. Sentimental Rousseau, who could weep over a progressive idea, distributed his many natural children through various poorhouses and workhouses and never gave a hoot for them. A sentimental old maid may pamper her parrot and poison her niece. The sentimental politician may remember Mother’s Day and ruthlessly destroy a rival. Stalin loved babies. Lenin sobbed at the opera, especially at the Traviata.

Sentimentality is closely related to virtue signaling, which I believe is often performed by horrible people as a means of cloaking their private vices. Jesus was referring to a religious form of virtue signaling when he stated:

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

I often think of this particular statement when I encounter people who are quick to invoke their Christian religious faith, especially in the context business discussions. I usually interpret such assurances as signals that I need to be very cautious about entering into agreements with the guys who make them.

People of the political left indulge in extravagant virtue signaling not about their Christian religious faith, but about their doctrinaire adherence to the shibboleths of DEI, climate change, vaccines, the sacred cause of Ukraine, and “gender affirming care.” Their passionate devotion to signaling their attachment to these beliefs is a spiritual cancer. Giving them positions of responsibility in public affairs can and will result in incalculable harm to cities, states, and nations.