Overtly stating or doing something for the purposes of letting other people know your position on a social issue for fear of being looked down on.
See also:
Links to this note
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Digital Status Symbols Arise from Homogeneity
When everyone gets the same thing, the smallest differences become status symbols.
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Legitimized Client-Side Scanning
The reaction to the recent announcement that Apple would begin scanning iCloud photos for CSAM was not just because of privacy concerns, but because it legitimizes other service providers to do the same.
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Imitating High-Status People Doesn’t Work
People tend to closely emulate individuals of high-status but the counter signaling they pick up on doesn’t work unless you are already high-status. For example, being an asshole to others because Steve Jobs was famously demanding and extremely blunt doesn’t work unless you are also a widely accepted product visionary, or spending many hours a day reading because that’s what Warren Buffet does won’t work unless you have decades of value investing experience.