Has virtue become a performance?

Yesterday, a
furious debate continued after celebrated novelist
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie launched a powerful
attack on sanctimonious social media users.
“The assumption of good faith is dead. What matters is not goodness but
the appearance of goodness.”

With these words, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie sparked an earthquake. In a

three-part essay, the Nigerian author took aim at an online culture of
toxicity and fear that she believes is stifling debate. Anyone who expresses
a controversial opinion, Adichie argued, is immediately condemned and
silenced.

“We have a generation of young people on social media so terrified of

having the wrong opinions that they have robbed themselves of the
opportunity to think and to learn and to grow.”

“We are no longer human beings. We are now angels jostling to out-angel
one another,” Adichie continued. “God help us. It is obscene.”

Adichie is a powerhouse of modern literature. Since the early 2000s,

her novels about post-independence Nigeria and the American immigrant
experience have captivated the world, earning her the Women’s Prize for
Fiction and a place on numerous bestseller lists. Her books have been
recommended by everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Barack Obama.

And it is not just Adiche’s fiction that captures imaginations. One of her
speeches, entitled ‘We should all be feminists’, was even featured in a
Beyonce song.

Now, her latest essay has shaken the world once more. Within hours of its
publication on Tuesday, so many people tried to read the essay that
Adichie’s website temporarily crashed.

The response was immediate. For historian Niall Ferguson, it was “a

remarkable commentary of the perils of teaching the current generation of
students”.

“Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is right,” declared British Nigerian journalist

Funmi Olutoye. “The way we use social media is killing the art of
conversation.”

Of course, Adichie is not the first person to speak out against inauthentic
displays of morality.

In 2013, the English academic Mark Fisher warned of a left-wing social

media culture “driven by a priest’s desire to excommunicate and condemn,
an academic pedant’s desire to be the first to spot a mistake, and a
hipster’s desire to be one of the in-crowd”.

And just last month, Malala Yousafzai shared her fears that activism today
is less about taking positive steps to change the world and more about
sharing opinions on Twitter.

In fact, the difference between false and true virtue is one of the oldest
debates in the world. In Christian tradition, Jesus condemned religious
leaders as hypocrites for portraying a faithful image to others while secretly
betraying their religious oaths.

Today, according to Adichie, the hypocrites are the people who pretend to
be virtuous online but fail to be kind in their offline lives.

For her, the issue is personal. The essay is aimed at the whole world, but
its contents are about two authors – former friends who attacked her online
because they disagreed with her ideas about gender. Indeed, some believe
it says more about Adichie’s hurt feelings than it does about the culture of
young people.
Has virtue become a performance?

Online outrage
Definitely, say some. In the digital era, our entire lives have become a
performance. And just as some people retouch their photographs to portray
the perfect image, others sanitise and edit their thoughts to portray the
“correct” set of opinions. Adichie is right – social media users are quick to
condemn others for perceived moral failings, but rarely do they actually
show true kindness.

Not at all, say others. This is an unfair and uncalled for attack on
Generation Z. Young social media users today are some of the most
morally articulate and ethical people in the world. Virtue is not a
performance if it is from the heart. The real hypocrites are the politicians
who pretend to care about inequality and the CEOs who pretend to care
about the environment.

Key words
Novels: Adichie drew on the experiences of her family during the aftermath
of the 1967 to 1970 Nigerian Civil War.

Niall Ferguson: The Scottish historian, author and documentary presenter

was once named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in
the world.

Mark Fisher: Fisher was a blogger, philosopher and teacher at

Goldsmiths, University of London. He was known for his writings on radical
politics.

Pedant: A person who is excessively concerned with minor rules or details.

Malala Yousafzai: A 23-year-old Pakistani activist for female education

and the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Religious leaders: In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells the scribes and
the Pharisees: “For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but
inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”

Hurt feelings: In her three part essay, Adichie published emails sent by
her former friends and described a dispute about the inclusion of her name
in an author biography.
Activities – After reading the article above…

1) Consider the paragraph in bold. How has the writer sought to engage
the reader with this opening to the article?
(Refer to start least three authorial choices in your response.)

2) The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being

heard.”
William Hazlitt (1778 – 1830), English literary critic and
philosopher

Write a paragraph explaining how this quotation relates to Adiche’s

article.

3) That’s not activism”: Barack Obama discusses moral ambiguity and

social media. Guardian News (1:53)

After watchimg this brief clip, write a question that you would ask Obama
based on his comments regarding social activism.

4) Imagine you are the next interviewee after Barack Obama. Write a
response (between 150-200 words) to one of the two questions
below.

Should there be any limits on free speech?

Is a culture of fear preventing open debate on social media?

5) Extension: Recording (audio or video)

Read your interview response to a family member, then answer three
follow-up questions they have on the opinions you have stated.