What ever will North Carolina residents do? Some porn website with a stupid hamster name has blocked access to their site to people with North Carolina IP addresses. What a huge disaster for North Carolina … um, pornography enthusiasts?

The Huffington Post reports (via Charles Cooke):

XHamster.com has been refusing to serve anyone from North Carolina since 12:30 p.m. EDT, Monday.

Instead, users with a North Carolina IP address are just seeing a black screen on their computer — no porn.

The extreme measures will stay in place until North Carolina repeals House Bill 2, a law passed on March 23 that effectively prevents cities and counties in the state from passing rules that protect LGBT rights.

As a resident of North Carolina, let me be the first to say “okay then.” Who cares? At National Review, Charles Cooke correctly characterizes it as virtue signaling:

If ever there were a perfect example of futile “virtue signaling” (ahem), it is this. How, exactly, does XHamster.com think its ransom is going to work? Is there a critical mass of North Carolinians who will be prepared to march into the public square and demand loudly that their favorite pornography site be returned to them? And if there is, is there any group that is less likely to be convinced by a such an display than the devout?

It’s not just a perfect example of “virtue signaling” generally, but the absolute platonic ideal of virtue signaling with regard to the so-called North Carolina bathroom bill. People are simply jumping on a bandwagon to prove – what, that they are tolerant? – without knowing what the bill is or does. Without considering whether anyone in North Carolina cares at all what they are doing. It is a literally meaningless gesture.