It’s Never Been Easier To Look Good Instead Of Being Good
How social media and avatars have democratized a flaw of the powerful few to the masses
I’ve noticed something which is becoming all too familiar now a days.
It’s like Moore’s Law but in a strange way applied to humans. Whereas in technology, time allows for more transistors to fit on a microchip; with celebrities, the more virtue they demonstrate for the public, the more likely they are to be the opposite in their private life.
I’m sure names are already popping into your head. But I’ll give a couple quick examples:
Ellen DeGeneres was a popular TV celebrity, who built a brand on being likeable. However, claims of a toxic work culture behind the scenes sent the empire crashing down.
While pop star Lizzo took on the mantle of body positivity, three of the dancers in her touring group are suing her for creating a hostile work environment which also included fat shaming.
Lance Armstrong became a hero for his record-breaking cycling performances after defeating cancer, but had all the titles removed after doping allegations (which he continuously denied) were proven true.
Obviously, prominent people feigning virtue to fool the public isn’t exactly new. If you added politicians or TV preachers to the mix, you could make a list as big as an old school phone book. But something has changed.
Social media has given us (as in all of us, not just celebrities) the power to have a television camera with a live feed anywhere we’d like 24/7. It’s also given us the cyberworld and a concept called an “avatar.”
According to Merriam-Webster, an avatar is “an electronic image (as in a video game) that represents and may be manipulated by a computer user.” And we’ve become experts in manipulating our cyber image.
We can list pronouns, Ukrainian flags, or whatever symbol the cyber world decries as virtuous at the moment for all to see, to show our social worth without actually working to prove or live it.
You could say it’s never been easier to look good without being good. But what are the repercussions? I’ll go out on a limb and say the following:
Tribalism: I’ll only associate with the avatars that signal my same virtue.
Nihilism: I can no longer believe in anything because it’s impossible to tell if anyone really practices virtue at all, or they’re all just fake avatars.
Disillusion: I no longer know what I myself believe because so much time is invested following the popular virtue of the minute.
But don’t take my word for it. Long before our creation of the cyberworld and avatars, the desire to look good over being good was addressed in the Biblical Middle East, Renaissance Italy, and medieval Japan. Some of the philosophical points may sound oddly familiar.
Jesus, A Prince, And A Samurai
About 2,000 years ago a poor man in the Middle East taught a radically different lesson on life than his brutal and social climbing Roman rulers.
In Rome, money, power, and status were the ultimate goals.
However, Jesus convinced followers to give up their worldly possessions and devote their lives to helping others. But this revolutionary teacher noticed a problem. The works of charity done by his followers weren’t always as noble as they should be.
Some were giving, but making a show of it to signal their virtue. It must have been a noticeable problem because Jesus took time to explain to his disciples the proper way one should give. According to the Gospel of Matthew:
“When you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men…But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret.”
In other words, care less about looking good than being good. About 1500 years after this, Renaissance philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli in his classic work on ruling strategy, The Prince, took a more darker and pragmatic view.
Namely, you can use a false image of virtue to manipulate others. According to Machiavelli:
“A Prince needs to take care never to let escape from his lips anything contrary to these five qualities, seeming always to be compassionate, faithful, honest, humane, and religious. Nothing is more important than to seem to be religious.”
Now, if your society isn’t religious anymore, then you adopt the next best thing: the social virtue of the moment. Moreover, you slather its calling cards all over your avatar and post affirming comments in the cyber world.
Machiavelli eloquently explains the results:
“Men judge more by appearances than by deeds. Everyone can see, few people can actually perceive and judge. Everybody can see what you seem to be; few can judge what you actually are.”
In other words, you can totally manipulate those around you by cloaking yourself in false virtue. About a hundred years later, the samurai and philosopher Miyamoto Musashi warned of just such manipulation.
During his life he traveled across Japan, fighting and perfecting practical fencing techniques in real-world battles. However, he noticed many schools teaching useless skills that did little. In A Book of Five Rings, Musashi says:
“If we look at the world we see arts for sale. Men use equipment to sell their own selves…In this kind of Way of strategy, both those teaching and those learning the way are concerned with coloring and showing off their technique…They are looking for profit.”
While profit may instinctually make you think of money, in our social media age, it could be boosted reputation in the form of followers and likes — applause of the crowd. But Musashi says the gain is only short term.
The avatar crumples when exposed to reality, although its damage can be widespread, especially in our time.
What Happens When The World Adopts False Avatars
I started this article describing a tendency of celebrities to go out of their way to look virtuous while being the exact opposite in their private lives.
As Machiavelli could tell you, that’s a way of life in politics, celebrity, and power. Create a false persona then manipulate others and yourself with it.
As of 2022, 4.59 billion people were on social media, so the technology has democratized this way of life to everyone through avatars saturated with false virtue. Even those who should really know better fall victim.
Blogger Gurwinder Bhogal reminds us even journalists aren’t immune, calling present-day reporting “Post Journalism.” According to Bhogal:
“The press lost its monopoly on news when the internet democratized info. To save its business model, it pivoted from journalism into tribalism. The new role of the press is not to inform its readers but to confirm what they already believe.”
Insert the press organ of your choice here. In fact, insert the avatar of your choice here, and possibly consider adding your own as well.
In the past, the elite were always tempted to profit from a false image for power, status, and fame.
Machiavelli advised his Prince to “appear” religious.
Musashi warned his students about false teachers “showing off their technique” and “looking for profit.”
While even Jesus warned the pious weren’t immune if charity was done for the wrong reasons.
Now, it’s never been easier to look good instead of being good, and we’re seeing the fall out in our failure as a global social media community. It’s taking the form of the three-headed monster of tribalism, nihilism, and disillusion.
So, what’s the cure for this?
The first step is to notice the problem, which we’re all a part of. Our self-manipulated avatars have caused us to lose faith in others, ourselves, and institutions.
Second, don’t perform; do good without a webcam on. Whether you believe in heaven or not, the act will start the process of fixing ourselves, and those immediately around us.
Third, our “news sources” are just as corrupted as we are, so use multiple outlets as a check and balance on reality.
-Originally posted on Medium 5/9/24