Caleb Lee

Why are so many audiences nowadays laughing at scenes that are meant to be uncomfortable? In this piece, Caleb Lee argues that the rise of inappropriate and performative laughter is a reflection of a more disturbing social trend that prevents us from dealing with sincerity in our everyday lives.

Why are people so toxic about the movie Sinners on social media? Various online behaviors such as virtue signaling, aggressive opinions, and performative media literacy all stem from a common place of wanting to belong, and nowhere is this more clear than in the Instagram and Reddit comment sections of Ryan Coogler’s racially-charged blockbuster. In this piece, Caleb Lee uses the online discourse surrounding a particular film to point out a growing failure to engage meaningfully with the world a