It sucks because it’s largely derivative.
Someone writes a critique of, say, a TV show. Then someone else critiques the critique. Then a legion of ANGREE PEOPLE shows up in the comments section of the critique that’s critiquing the critique, furious about some WORD that the critic used, a word that is OFFENSIVE in some contexts, though perhaps not in others. The outrage spreads to Twitter, and causes exasperated status updates on Facebook, which then prompt philosophical debates in the comments to said updates – debates that are Godwinned within 24 hours, because that’s just how some people roll.
I don’t know about you – but I’ve got, like, real life white pride marches and violence against journalists in Moscow getting most of my attention these days. If someone pisses me off on Twitter, I might flame them for a second, then get on with my freaking day.
Call-out culture seemed meaningful when I was younger, richer and stupider. I have a child now, for God’s sake. I have a husband. We’re adults. We go to IKEA and stuff. I’ve got the receipts to prove it!… I seriously have better things to do.
Natalia A. 
Well aren’t we superior now 😉 As a person who has been certifiably insane, I often think that the people intent on “calling others out” are busy creating communities that reinforce their mental pathologies. It’s a quagmire of intense social psychology.
IKEA trips naturally make my life meaningful.
It’s an issue of control as well – if you’re the type of person who needs their worldview validated every fifteen seconds, you’re going to flip your shit when someone who “isn’t supposed” to think or act a certain way will disappoint you.
A depressingly large number of feminists and liberals aren’t comfortable with the complexity of human life. But I have a nagging suspicion most of the people who start engage in call-out culture aren’t terribly well-traveled or worldly. If typing words on a screen is your only way of expressing and interacting with an ideology or movement, well, you’re going to go off the rails on blog comment threads, because what people write will be of paramount importance to you.
I’ve found that people who live in difficult places and/or deal with heavy stuff in their professional lives tend to ignore the language wars and look more closely at the *actions* of others.
A depressingly large number of feminists and liberals aren’t comfortable with the complexity of human life. But I have a nagging suspicion most of the people who engage in call-out culture aren’t terribly well-traveled or worldly. If typing words on a screen is your only way of expressing and interacting with an ideology or movement, well, you’re going to go off the rails on blog comment threads, because what people write will be of paramount importance to you.
I’ve found that people who live in difficult places and/or deal with heavy stuff in their professional lives tend to ignore the language wars and look more closely at the *actions* of others.
Woops! Hit post too fast. Second comment is the one I meant to post.
It’s also an academic thing. Some people privilege theory so much that they stop interacting with fellow human beings and start interacting with words. And concepts.
I’ve done it too, but life has necessitated taking a big step back.