Justin Tsoi of the University of Michigan thinks so in this provocative article and podcast:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/so-that-happened-moral-grandstanding_us_5865ad86e4b0eb586488dd4f
“We’ve all seen it in annoying tweets and chest-thumping Facebook posts ― items presented as casual observations or political arguments that carry a much different underlying meaning: I am good because I have said this important thing now, here, on the Internet! The social need to be perceived by our peers as being morally upright ― or to pile on, with tribal abandon, with our likes and faves ― has replaced our calling to pursue moral truth. Or to actually engage in morally useful activities.
The problem is extremely common, Tosi argues, something even the best-intentioned of us have succumbed to at some point or another, though some of us are more flagrant and frequent offenders than others. It isn’t restricted to social media. Brian Leiter’s popular philosophy blog cites the paper approvingly, noting that moral grandstanding is rampant even in Twitter-anemic academia, where otherwise intelligent people stake out entire careers on preposterous-but-shocking arguments. ‘I will resist naming the professional philosophers who should read this, but you know who you are,’ he writes.”
PWS
12/30/16