The left's costume party: Virtue signaling as performance art

Protests are fashion statements.

In the 1960s, the hippie movement urged participants to wear their hair long and adorn themselves in bright colors that could be seen on color television newscasts. Today, the social media era has devolved into a new form of lunacy intended to be eye-catching for the sake of internet virality.

Communism has become the ultimate fashion statement.

The No Kings protests were a perfect example of how protests have become liberal runways.

Many attendees dressed in inflatable costumes while others sported the red cloaks from "A Handmaid's Tale." A quick internet search bears witness to countless other dramatic protest garbs, from Stormtroopers to Uncle Sam to circus clowns. Those who didn't make a stop at a Spirit Halloween store before attending the protest wore their outrage on too-clever T-shirts or by swinging homemade signs.

These recent protests were, relatively speaking, more geriatric than other protests of recent past, but even BLM and Antifa protesters have their own distinct style. They can be easily identified by their piercings, dyed hair, and Pride pins. They stick to dark clothing like ripped jeans and scuffed Doc Martens, much like 1990s high schoolers who just discovered grunge music. They often use satanic imagery, like skulls or pentagrams, pretending that their relationship with demonic symbols is ironic and, therefore, "wholesome."

Another symbol that these protestors cling to is the hammer and sickle. They wear it on T-shirts with a casual attitude. College students have it on their belt buckles, and grad students put stickers of it on their Apple computers.

If you knew nothing about the hammer and sickle, you might think it was a clothing brand. Removed from its context, it has morphed into something completely unrecognizable.

Communism has become the ultimate fashion statement. It's subversive and feigns intelligence, allowing contrarians to morph their love of punk rock into disdain for "the system." Their quirky personalities are not personal discrepancies but are instead indicators that they are victims of a normal, Christian society.

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In the 1950s, the outcasts wore leather jackets and slicked their hair. In the 2000s, the outcasts wore choker necklaces and sneakers. In 2025, kids are wearing communism. It's an absurd get-out-of-jail-free card that justifies the behavior of people who feel they don't fit in.

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, almost 35 years ago. For many young people, the fall of the USSR feels as distant as World War I or Napoleon. They didn't see Mikhail Gorbachev lose control or witness the Berlin Wall fall. Older generations understand that communism is a failed system because they saw its ramifications on television. They knew that tens of millions of Russians were killed by it. They saw Cuba be utterly destroyed by it. They saw their family members deployed to Korea and Vietnam to stop it.

For the modern rebel, communism has no consequences. It's a political theory, a thought experiment discussed in college safe spaces.

The Communist Party, unfortunately, is alive and growing in America.

The Revolutionary Communists of America are slated to host Marxist schools in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York this year. Membership in the Communist Party USA has jumped from 15,000 in 2023 to 20,000 in 2024. Many of these clubs offer tools and resources to learn about communism on their websites, with one even having a "Marxism IQ" test.

Their cancerous ideology is preying on disenfranchised young people, baiting them with the deadly promises of "equity."

Wearing a hammer and sickle pin or reading Lenin in public is a way for people to show just how much they care about the 'oppressed classes.'

At one No Kings protest, the "Denver Communists" had a tent with a sign that read, "Charlie Kirk had it coming." Workers at the tent posed beside it with thumbs-up, smiling and encouraging people to take photos. A slogan so utterly debauched is intended to get social media recognition. The Denver Communists are actively trying to be noticed for their inflammatory behavior.

It's the violent progression of a teenager swearing to make his parents angry.

There is a maturity problem in America. Young people are trying to extend their youth in a desperate attempt to circumvent responsibility. The length of time that Gen Z will hold onto one job has sharply declined. Marriage rates have been in a free fall for years. Less than 20% of young people are saving for retirement. College attendance has become the normalized experience of young adulthood, extending the length of schooling while sacrificing years meant for maturity.

This generation has been convinced that their success doesn't depend on their own work, but on the work of others. To them, communism is the solution they've been looking for.

Being a communist is the cool, empathetic thing for young people to support. Wearing a hammer and sickle pin or reading Lenin in public is a way for people to show just how much they care about the "oppressed classes." It's a new depth of virtue signaling.

No longer is it enough for radical leftists to support gay marriage or abortion — they must now object to the entire constitutional republic. It's all for the sake of being rebellious and relevant.

Some people buy expensive handbags. Some people buy rare watches. And today, some people join the Communist Party. After all, it's just about having the right look.