This chapter provides a critical diagnosis of how ICER has often been compromised by, e.g., neoliberal logics, intellectual complacency and performative radicalism. It introduces eight concepts (e.g., buzzword bloat, critical cosmetics and empathy engineering) that expose how the field often manufactures illusions of progress while maintaining systemic inequities. The analysis reveals how market-driven solutions, hollow terminology and communal, academic practices undermine substantive transformation. In this chapter, the author calls for rejecting these superficial engagements and recommitting to the difficult work of epistemic justice and structural change in intercultural scholarship and education.