About Sanctimony:

Sanctimony substitutes moral posturing for reasoned argument. Users leveraging sanctimony on social media aim to portray the other side as trying to subvert morality or ethical behavior, implicitly or explicitly presenting their side as paragons of virtue, ethics, or wisdom. In such discussions, sanctimonious comments can distort the discourse by shifting the focus away from the actual issues and towards an implied moral failing of the other side.

Sanctimony often ties in with Accuse Heresy, because purists often deploy it to accuse moderates of not being righteous enough. For example, someone on the far left might argue “Your moral opinion is worthless because you still listen to Ye after his antisemitic comments.”

One of the challenges in addressing sanctimony is that it often plays to the audience’s preconceived notions or biases, which can make the tactic feel compelling, even if it’s logically flawed. It also can contribute to an environment of polarization and “us-versus-them” mentality. It adds an emotional charge to the debate that can silence opponents, who may be reluctant to challenge the moral high ground of the sanctimonious individual.

A productive reply might be asking the issuer to clarify the steps to drawing their conclusion, e.g. “Sure, sure, we don’t want to endanger children. Who here has said that they do?”