Fool's Gold

Virtue Signaling:

To take a conspicuous but essentially useless action ostensibly to support a good cause but actually to show off how much more moral you are than everybody else.

The opposite of the Biblical admonition to be virtuous in secret, virtue-signalers crave social approbation by being visible: [bold added]

In 2011, the economists behind Freakonomics ran a story about the research of Steve and Alison Sexton. They wondered why it was that the Toyota Prius was designed to be such a distinctive-looking automobile. As it turns out, the unique look was no accident. The Sextons found that, in particularly conservation-conscious areas of the country, people were willing to pay as much as $4200 more for a recognizably “green” car.

"Hybrid"; barely noticeable

When we were shopping for a fuel-efficient vehicle last year, we did look at the Prius. It was too small for our needs, but the negative deciding factor was that being seen in one is strongly suggestive of agreeing with the dominant group's politics in the Bay Area.

We settled on a RAV4 Hybrid, which looks the same as a regular RAV4 save for the small sign in the rear. We're averaging 30+ MPG overall and are very happy with the purchase.

While I was working, it was sometimes necessary to make purchases solely to keep up appearances. No longer--trying to win others' approval through their notions of virtuosity is Fool's Gold.