When Virtue Signalers Become Virtue Flaunters

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Starbucks in New York (rblfmr/Shutterstock)

WASHINGTON — I always used to purchase Gillette shaving products. Gillette made products that appealed to me. When I was a boy, Gillette advertised the Friday night boxing matches. That was enough inducement for me. Perhaps Gillette also advertised the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, too, and shows about outdoor life such as hunting and fishing. Yet I quit them several years ago when I made an astonishing discovery.

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Gillette had been subverted by what is now called the “woke” movement. In its advertisements, Gillette was accusing me and other red-blooded American males of favoring the bullying of young people, both males and females. Maybe they were accusing us of bullying household pets too. Whatever the case, I immediately slapped a boycott on Gillette. There are other shaving products I can buy. There is the old standby, Schick, and newer product lines such as “Harry’s Razors for Men” — did you get that? “For Men”! Of course, I can always grow a beard or go out in public perfectly bald. I do not need Gillette.

Since I slapped my boycott on Gillette, I have lost sight of the company. Though the Woke Camorra endures, and I am told it has even gained more corporate adherents. Recently Bud Light was suborned by the Woke Folk. (Light, what would you expect?) And then there was an entity going by the curious name of Target. It also tried to appeal to the Woke Folk. Bud Light took an especially fierce drubbing in public forums, where wokedom is very controversial. As for Target, all I know is that I have yet to ascertain its position on the National Rifle Association (NRA). Thus, I shall hold my fire, though I must compliment Target’s board of directors on choosing a nice name.

So how is the woke thing going? Are the Woke Folk multiplying? Have any been arrested? I cannot believe a movement as controversial as woke could interest a giant corporation seeking to sell its product to the good-natured American public. Well, apparently, I have been right. Whether it be the result of my boycott or a larger movement — something cosmic — I do not know. But now there is evidence pouring in that wokedom is being rejected in the boardrooms of the Giant Corporations. Even the smaller corporations are taking a stand. (RELATED from R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.: My Plan for the Transgendered)

Recently the Wall Street Journal, on its front page, brought an enormous amount of evidence from all four corners of America that wokedom is being rejected. The good sense of Americans is winning out. The free market has supplied proof against the ideological incense-burners of socialism.

The Journal reported:

Finance chiefs and other executives have significantly quieted down in public settings about their environmental and employee diversity efforts as opposition has mounted from a confluence of interests: investors who want companies to focus on their  operations, not the social good, and conservative groups and political leaders who have seized on corporate support of such causes to rally “anti-woke” constituents—for example, calling for boycotts of brands that advertise their support of the LGBT community in the wake of recent disputes with Target and Bud Light.

Yes, Target and Bud Light have come under fire for their woke nonsense.

The Journal goes further: “Companies’ mentions of green and social initiatives during earnings calls have fallen off sharply in recent quarters, reversing a more boastful approach taken over the past few years amid intensifying pressure from some investors and conservative activities.” Still more evidence that in America the free market preempts the do-gooders.

Or are the Woke Folk even do-gooders? They take great pride in calling themselves “virtue signalers,” yet a few days after the Wall Street Journal’s initial assault on the Woke Camorra, a gentleman by the name of Andy Puzder wrote a very authoritative op-ed piece in the Journal demonstrating that wokedom is on the retreat in practically all the red states and even a goodly number of blue states. My guess is that the average Americano does not like people who prattle on about how virtuous they are. Rather than being virtue signalers, these popinjays come across as “virtue flaunters.” I bet virtue flaunting is not even popular at Gillette headquarters, wherever they may be.

Glory to Ukraine!

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R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.
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R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief ofThe American Spectator. He is the author of How Do We Get Out of Here: Half a Century of Laughter and Mayhem at the American Spectator from Bobby Kennedy to Donald J. Trump. He is also the author of The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc; New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: The Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn’t Work: Social Democracy’s Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery. He makes frequent appearances on national television and is a nationally syndicated columnist, whose articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Washington Times, National Review, Harper’s, Commentary, The (London) Spectator, Le Figaro (Paris), and elsewhere. He is also a contributing editor to the New York Sun.
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