Perhaps the most obvious case in point is climate alarmism, where well-off people call for policies that make energy more expensive for the world’s poorest people who need cheap energy the most. It’s the height of hypocrisy to see middle class commentariats lecture the public on carbon footprints while paying no regard to the ill-effects this posturing has on the lower-income people. These same elites often live in comfortable homes, use high-end electronics, rely on fossil fuels (directly or indirectly) for virtually everything they do, and outsource their energy-heavy lifestyles to poorer countries. That’s why it’s even more repugnant when rich celebrities jump on the bandwagon.
Another clear example of a luxury belief is the insistence of well-off individuals and the cultural literati that the UK should be ceaselessly welcoming and tolerant of all immigration, while labelling those who express concerns about the social tensions and pressures on services it can bring as ‘racist’ or ‘xenophobic’. Those who virtue signal with calls of ultra-tolerance and spout ‘Everyone’s welcome!” platitudes rarely experience the direct costs of highly concentrated influxes of immigration in areas already strained on public services, housing or social tensions, which disproportionately affect residents in deprived areas. This disconnect allows the belief to function as a status signal of moral superiority, while the real challenges are left to be borne by the most vulnerable communities.
Socialist rhetoric is another luxury belief - popular among wealthy students and cultural elites who benefit from capitalism but call for its dismantling, without facing the consequences of the economic instability such systems often bring. The anti-Israel stance often seen in elite academic and media circles serves as a moral status symbol, yet disregards the lived realities of ordinary citizens affected by terrorism and conflict, especially those in Israel, who have faced decades of bloodshed and persecution from militant Islamists who wish to wipe their nation off the map. Cancel culture is another classic example - it is embraced either by those with institutional or economic protection, or those with no real skin in the game - who can afford to make mistakes and recover - while it devastates the careers and reputations of the majority of people trying to make society a better, more truthful place.
In each case above, the luxury belief serves more as an expression of virtue-signalling and a desire to look good than a genuine attempt to improve the world. Luxury beliefs often come at little cost to the elites or comfortably off people who hold them, but invariably come at a big price for less comfortable and less well-off groups if widely adopted. As a society, I think we should become more familiar with instances of hollow status symbols dressed in virtue - and never shy away from calling them out before their cost is passed on to those who can least afford it.
