When you drive through an affluent neighborhood and you see these yard signs, what do you think?
To hear my biggest detractors talk about me — and there are many, for sure — I’m super pessimistic and engaged in a no-one-cares “war on woke.” Now, it is true I’m not generally a fan of wokeness, but I think the closer reality when talking about myself is I love people who say what they mean. Truth and reality are very hard for individuals, especially in a platform economy. I’m more truthful than a lot of low-grade writers you’ll find, and I’m sure it has restricted my audience, income, and relationships over time. But if I think managers are being idiots, or gender reveal parties do more to burn down forests than bring together families, I might go ahead and say that, sure.
So what I don’t love is the performative piece of it, which feels like the central piece today. A lot of times, these signs reside in neighborhoods with maybe 2-3 minority families at most — and if there was suddenly a legislative change whereby more minority families could come in at lower price points, even though this might be good for the children of the sign-poster (more diversity in the kids in the neighborhood, playing with people of different backgrounds and perspectives), the sign-posters would go nuts and start whispering loudly about the neighborhood’s value and “getting out.” You can call this NIMBY if you want — it is that — but it’s bigger than that.
We live in this weird virtue-signaling, performative era these days. People post this stuff, but when this stuff hits at their kids, their neighborhood, or their ability to earn good income, the sign matters not, and will be in the recycling bin in 15 seconds. Now, is this everyone? No. Many people are good-hearted, put up these signs, and practice what they preach. But for so many, it’s performative bullshit that means nothing. It’s Instagram, but on your lawn. It’s Easter on Facebook, but for passing cars.
What’s the ultimate point? To feel like a better person? To showcase the type of person you are? I’m often unclear.
I was at a wedding on Saturday night where I knew maybe eight people total out of 120. One of the dudes, who I had met maybe 2-3 times before, lives in a neighborhood with a ton of these signs. He told me: “Ultimately people want to raise their families and make money. People that post these signs are liberal until something happens in one of those two areas, then they rapidly become conservative in thinking again.”
I don’t disagree.
Now, I do live in Texas — that colors some of this, no doubt.
But it just feels like at every turn, we live in this utterly performative era, where the goal isn’t to share how you really think or feel about anything, but rather the goal is to share what you think people want you to share, collect your good person nods, and go back to living your life in a completely different way.
I don’t think platforms did this to us — I think humans have been this way for some time — but did platforms exacerbate it? Absolutely and a day.
Takes?
