I'm really tired of the "virtue signaling" meme. Yeah, there are some people out there that don't really care about their cause and only want to look good. But really, the vast majority of protesters out there are not in that category. They are alarmed, they know they only have partial information but that's part of what they are alarmed about, they know they don't have a lot of power to do anything other than "call their representatives", and still just want to do something.

Nonviolent protest is an effective tool. There are academic studies done on it [1] and how it is actually more effective than violent protest - it has real efficacy. It's not merely "virtue signaling".

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Why-Civil-Resistance-Works-Nonviolent...