17. How Can We Get More Virtue and Less ‘Virtue Signaling’?

No Stupid Questions

社会与文化

2020-09-06

32 分钟
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Also: is it better to be a thinker, a doer, or a charmer?

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  • When I say that out loud, it sounds kind of terrible.

  • It sounds like an ogre ish thing to say.

  • I'm Angela Duckworth.

  • I'm Steven Dubner, and you're listening to.

  • No stupid questions today on the show.

  • At a time when there are so many political, socioeconomic, and environmental issues to worry about, how do you decide where to invest your energy?

  • Is there some rank ordering that you've already come to?

  • And, like, could I just copy it?

  • Also, are you a thinker, a doer, or a charmer?

  • Jimmy Carter lusted in his heart.

  • He took a lot of heat from that, but apparently didn't lust, you know, out in the real world.

  • So, Angela, as I understand it, it is a good thing to care about important things and other people.

  • Would you agree with that?

  • Yes, Steven, I would agree with that.

  • Well, it's interesting because one of the things that seems to be happening right now, especially in certain quadrants of America, where people consume a lot of media and social media, is that there is an abundance of things to care about and to feel worried about, often enraged by.

  • But what if I find it hard to care a lot about things that don't affect me or my loved ones personally?

  • The issues that I know are important, but.

  • But maybe at a distance.

  • So the environment and social issues and economic and political issues, it strikes me that everybody wants to seem or look as if they care a lot and therefore put a lot of effort into acting as if they care, indicating that they care.

  • Virtue signaling.