There exists, within contemporary creative practice, an unspoken etiquette — an ambient expectation that one must express interest in the output of others, even when that interest is neither present nor sustainable. This phenomenon is not new. As Pierre Bourdieu writes in The Rules of Art (1992), the field of cultural production is structured by a logic of mutual legitimization, where symbolic capital often supersedes critical engagement. In this landscape, to remain visible is to remain within the game — and visibility, more often than not, is maintained through gestures of attentiveness. The etiquette of performed concern is not limited to overt praise. It includes micro-gestures: a like, a repost, an approving nod in a group critique, even the brief act of resharing a trailer one has not actually viewed. These acts, while minimal, accumulate meaning within the ecology of peer recognition. Judith Butler, in her exploration of performativity, reminds us that identity is constituted through repetition. So too is care — not felt, but demonstrated repeatedly until it becomes indistinguishable from sincerity. Indeed, within creative communities, the affective economy described by Lauren Berlant becomes acutely visible. In Cruel Optimism (2011), Berlant outlines how attachments can persist not because they nourish, but because they promise to. In the same way, the performance of concern does not necessarily signal belief in the work — only belief in the promise that concern will one day be reciprocated.