richlind33: A better example, IMO, would be people going outside to bang a pot in support of frontline healthcare workers.
As for the Pope, I believe it comes down to whether or not he's virtuous and truly cares about humanity.
Precisely. Not that I want to compare myself with him, but anyone who believes in what they say and aren't saying it with the (at least the primary) intention of making themselves look better in doing so isn't engaging in "signaling".
richlind33: Why be disgusted by behavior that is decried by those who have no ethical superiority? Are you a "good" person because you don't download content you haven't paid for?
Because I consider it theft, which is a pattern of behaviour I personally don't like to have done to myself nor others. Because I consider it rather unfair that others in life get to take what they want without paying while others struggle and yet obey the rules and pay for the same product. I don't really care for big businesses per se, but I recognise businesses are made up of people and they like everyone else deserve to be paid for the work they do. A lost sale is potential money which could have built the business, hiring more staff etc, and this is why I don't like that one act of downloading pirated content.
I'd be lying if I said that the theft part was more important to me than the fairness bit. It severely pisses me off when someone gets away with illegitimately obtaining what I had to pay for.
I've expressed a view I believe in with the motive of trying to affect change in others - to convince others it's not a good idea. In doing so I provided some reasoning behind it. That's not me "virtue signaling". That's me expressing an opinion and engaging in discussion hoping to convince others of the merit of not supporting piracy. Like others have been trying to do on the opposing side of the argument.