An Analysis of Being Cool

This post is a precusror to all the posts I'm ever going to make about things I love that are considered uncool.

There's a subculture in every generation that believes it has been chosen to adjudicate on what is or isn't acceptable.  These people like to prescribe rules for social advancement and individual expression, which if followed promises greater acceptance into an exclusive club available only to those who -- funnily enough -- conform to these arbitrary and constantly fluctuating rules.

In reality, it's not the cool people who define the concept, it's everyone else.  The Committee of Cool Kids (or COCK for short) is actually reactive in nature.  Whatever the community at large embraces with open arms, they reject as being uncool.  The more people like something, the less cool it becomes.

So then, what happens when the cool people find something obscure that's actually worthwhile?  Well, naturally they tell everyone -- how else would we know they're cool?  Of course then lots of people begin to appreciate it, and it immediately ceases being cool.

It's no wonder nobody can pin down what it means anymore.

We're social animals searching for true individuality which is elusive because it's non-existant.  Individuals receive no understanding or acceptance because they're just too different, yet acceptance is one of the fundemental goals of being cool.  The search for individuality is only worthwhile if there's someone around to witness it and praise you for it, which of course immediately nullifies the effort.  If anyone at all agrees with your idea of individuality, then it's no longer individual!

So really, in order to be cool for more than 5 seconds you have to really love things which most people dislike, otherwise your good taste will render you mainstream.  Interestingly then, that would make you an incredibly poor judge of what pleases others.  What use is the opinion of someone whose taste we find objectionable?

As logical as this is, and as outwardly as some of those people display their poor taste, we still find ourselves paying attention to them and heeding what they say, but why?

It's the sales pitch.  Cool people are constantly going around accusing others of not belonging; of being uncool.  They're constantly looking for people to subscribe to their point of view, and they woo us with promises of acceptance and understanding -- the two things everyone wants most.

In reality, they're just desperate for validation.

In fact, if you were to admit you constantly follow the example of so-called cool people, you'd be branded uncool.  So being cool is only cool if you don't admit you're being uncool about it.  Confusing!

As everyone learns eventually, truly being cool is not giving a shit whether anyone thinks you're cool or not.  Having established this, I'm going to post on a number of decidedly uncool things that I really enjoy.