I've tried twice to quit Facebook, but my account lives on.  So, while I wouldn't dream of posting, I still go there occasionally to find out what's going on with people I've known over the years, almost all of whom are Democrats.  That's how I've learned that "shout your abortion" has been superseded by a new trend: "Shout your vaccine."  It's such a "thing" now that CNN's little tater man, Brian Stelter, scolded Fox News personalities for failing to do so.

I've noted before that modern leftism is performative.  They fake waterboard each other, do die-ins, dress as broccoli, wear stupid pink hats, and generally engage in theater for their politics.

And they virtue-signal.  There is no such thing as a private political thought in leftist world — perhaps because they realize at some subliminal level that their political demands range from useless to stupid to harmful, they constantly try to offset that by showing how truly good they are.

In 2020, the mask became the ultimate signal of virtue.  Starting in about March, all of the Democrats I know posted pictures of themselves wearing masks.  Along with the pictures were minatory statements or posters about how good people wear masks not to protect themselves, but to protect everyone else.  Even now, leftists are saying masks are a sign of virtue, decency, and anti-racism and that we must continue to wear them even if we're vaccinated.

And speaking of vaccinations, the latest weapon in the virtue-signalers' arsenal is pictures of themselves getting vaccinated.  Or pictures of themselves with little bandages on their arms where they were vaccinated.  Or pictures of their vaccine card.  Or (gag me) pictures of themselves embracing cardboard cutouts of a masked Dr. Fauci.  Again, this is all so that you know that they are good people.  Theatrically, performatively good people.

Therefore, it didn't come as a surprise to me to read that Brian Stelter, whose audience share has plummeted since Biden entered office, was whining that Fox News hosts were failing to virtue-signal about their vaccines.  According to Stelter, all the responsible TV personalities show themselves getting vaccines, and, if they're Rachel Maddow, they even talk about overcoming a fear of needles.  But the evil Fox News people — Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, etc. — refuse to show themselves with needles in their arms like some sort of weird vaccine junkies.

It doesn't seem to occur to Stelter that one of the things Fox News people don't do is assume that their audience members are emotional little children who will happily go along with things if they see TV Mommy and Daddy do it first.  Instead, conservatives tend to get the information for themselves and make their own decisions, just like what they are: responsible grown-ups.

You can see Stelter's shtick here:

CNN’s Mr. Potato Head is now whining about Fox hosts not taking vaccine selfies pic.twitter.com/9lSosQ5lq3

— Jewish Deplorable (@TrumpJew2) April 11, 2021

I am amazed as always that this squeaky-voiced potato man has managed to leverage himself into a position in which he actually has an effect on the lives of emotionally immature, mentally limited people.  His mere presence on TV reminds us how far America has fallen into an infantile state.

UPDATE: This morning, my Facebook feed was flooded with these (I've substituted the appropriate clown for the photos of the posters that showed up on each person's little virtue signal):

Image: Stelter on vaccine selfies.  Twitter screen grab.