We had one kid born in the 90’s who could just always swim. She’d be like 18 months or 2 toddling up to the diving board at the Y, and every parent and child in viewing distance would have a collective heart attack and fit. It was hard to ask them to please calm down and just watch. Then she’d jump right off the board and swim underwater over to the side, get back up and do it again, never even knowing anyone was watching her.

To me, that’s when the virtue-signaling first started, when everyone started “saving” everyone else very loudly as a virtue signal. Rather then in older times, when every parent and child would have just silently watched and inconspicuously hovered if they cared so much. Then they would have only jumped in to save the kid- but just to get them back up to the side, hand them to their parent with a quick nod, and go on about their business.

I remember that disturbing me even back then. Now it’s morphed into things that don’t even have the potential to be dangerous- and turned into “accept my virtue signaling or you’re not even worthy of calling yourself human.”