Christine Rosen‘s latest Commentary magazine column spells out the problems related to smarm, “a form of extremely ingratiating behavior — unctuous attempts to curry favor while remaining insistently ‘positive.'”

In a therapeutic culture such as ours, which is focused on personal well-being more than personal responsibility, it’s not surprising that we find smarm so compelling. We seem to worry less about the state of our souls than we do the minimalism of our closets or the carbon footprint of our last vacation.

But smarm is thriving for another reason as well. A culture that values sensitivity and diversity without figuring out how to adequately define either needs ways to monitor the behavior of others. Smarm has emerged as a kind of coping mechanism for a world beset by trigger warnings, safe spaces, and hypersensitivity to gender, race, and ethnic differences.

Or, as [Tom] Scocca noted, in words that could be used to describe contemporary student activists on campus, “It is scolding, couched as an appeal to goodness, in the name of an absent authority.” If you can’t say something nice—or, more to the point, if can’t figure out if something you think is nice might be misconstrued as transphobic, racist, or sexist—just favorite that kitten video!

Smarm also provides an ersatz feeling of community. Today, more people are living alone than ever before, but at least they are all on Facebook. Why fret about a fractured nation bowling alone when you can read this or that “powerful story” on Upworthy? In the vacuum left by traditional behavioral norms and mores, smarm has emerged as our common cultural currency.

As for disagreement? Criticism? Smarm culture tends to call out as “haters” anyone who disagrees with liberal mainstream views. Do you have a problem with the government’s policy on transgender bathroom access? You’ll be dismissed as an extremist ranter with that favorite smarm catchphrase: Haters gonna hate. In a culture where being liked and followed and pinned and retweeted is the most important currency, saying something disagreeable (that is, out of the liberal mainstream) isn’t just curmudgeonly; it can be career-threatening. This is why the Internet, which promised to give authentic voice to the previously silenced, has instead given us a world in which mommy bloggers spend their days curating upbeat posts about the challenges of potty training in order to get kickbacks from diaper companies.