Virtue Signalling — The New Religion

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Here are two articles, one in German, the other in English, describing a syndrome of our times: elites and the powers that be return magical thinking to a position of cultural preponderance in sophisticated modern societies; they have  enough resources at hand to invest in irrational beliefs that destroy the economic and moral basis of society.

California's Middle Class Is Disappearing As "Virtue Signaling" Elites Drive Wealth Gap Ever Wider

and

Stickoxid Grenzwerte – Ein Geschenk des Himmels?

The the new religious entrench themselves behind walls of rancour and malice that keep their magical thinking insulated against rational criticism.

There is no doubt that their magical aberrations will eventually end the way unsustainable fads always do. In the meantime, the suspension of rationality, civility, and pluralistic-democratic restraint in favour of a zealous conceit of absolute knowledge and a self-appointed sacral right to dominance over other attitudes does enormous damage to civilisation.