Cultural criticism has become a performative identity. Once the domain of academia and journalism, it’s now a currency for digital clout. The question isn’t just why critique thrives online—it’s why it’s been reduced to soundbites, stripped of depth, and optimized for engagement over insight.

The question isn’t just why critique thrives online—it’s why it’s been reduced to soundbites, stripped of depth, and optimized for engagement over insight.

Over the past few years, it’s become obvious that trends are trending. At this point, I think we can all agree that the frenzy around “identifying” and “explaining” various TikTok “micro-trends” is exhausting and redundant. In reality, something “trending” on social media does not make it a culturally relevant trend. TikTok “cores” are often just... See more