Words mean whatever people who use them intend them to mean.
Having said that, I think this is a particularly cumbersome shoehorning.
Here's my attempt to explain: be vulnerable in this context actually means be strong, thereby turning vulnerable in to an auto-antonym - a word that is it's own opposite. Also know as Janus word, contronym, or antagonyms.
Allow me to elaborate, and then I'll provide a context for my elaboration.
It takes strength to admit fault and weakness because it requires one to expose their flaws, inconsistencies, triggers. It requires one to expose their vulnerabilities.
The context to support the idea I'm presenting here is that we can't, in the current social climate use the word strength in this scenario because that would be implying someone specific is weak, and that is perceived by some as an attack.
So we've substituted the technically correct word, strength, for it's opposite, vulnerable, due in large part to our collective weaknesses.
I like my explanation because it's a little bit fun and societal-level self-deprecating.
Our culture is turning in to a satirical plush-toy caricature of itself.
I have my suspicions that this is a healthy, and necessary, stage of social progress. Hopefully this turns out, over time, to be less intimidating, and more inclusive and encouraging, than the previous stages, which by many measures has significant problems for large swathes of the global community.
I think you're trying way too hard to make a thing out of this. You were able to give an explanation of 'be vulnerable' here in the shortest sentence in your paragraph
> [Be vulnerable here means] expose their vulnerabilities
I put a bit of effort in to providing a comprehensive, multi-pronged, take on my interpretation of what's going on with this use of vulnerable, a use that isn't covered by any of the entries for the word vulnerable listed in any of the dictionaries I have close at hand.
Having said that, I think this is a particularly cumbersome shoehorning.
Here's my attempt to explain: be vulnerable in this context actually means be strong, thereby turning vulnerable in to an auto-antonym - a word that is it's own opposite. Also know as Janus word, contronym, or antagonyms.
Allow me to elaborate, and then I'll provide a context for my elaboration.
It takes strength to admit fault and weakness because it requires one to expose their flaws, inconsistencies, triggers. It requires one to expose their vulnerabilities.
The context to support the idea I'm presenting here is that we can't, in the current social climate use the word strength in this scenario because that would be implying someone specific is weak, and that is perceived by some as an attack.
So we've substituted the technically correct word, strength, for it's opposite, vulnerable, due in large part to our collective weaknesses.
I like my explanation because it's a little bit fun and societal-level self-deprecating.
Our culture is turning in to a satirical plush-toy caricature of itself.
I have my suspicions that this is a healthy, and necessary, stage of social progress. Hopefully this turns out, over time, to be less intimidating, and more inclusive and encouraging, than the previous stages, which by many measures has significant problems for large swathes of the global community.