Not cool. Awesome!

            Being epically awesome is not cool.  No, not even a little bit.  In fact, it is totally looked down upon.

            We even have a whole arsenal of negative terms to describe people who are awesome in some way.  Like nerds, geeks, dweebs, techies, and even jocks. 

            Lets explore some definitions:

geek |gēk|noun informal1 an unfashionable or socially inept person.• [ usu. with modifier ] a knowledgeable and obsessive enthusiast: a computer geek.

nerd |nərd|noun informala foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious: one of those nerds who never asked a girl to dance.• a single-minded expert in a particular technical field: a computer nerd.

dweeb |dwēb|noun informala boring, studious, or socially inept person.
techie |ˈtekē|(also tekkie or techy )noun ( pl. techies ) informala person who is expert in or enthusiastic about technology, esp. computing.

jock 1 |jäk|

noun informal

1 a disc jockey.2 an enthusiast or participant in a specified activity: a computer jock.• an enthusiastic athlete or sports fan, esp. one with few other interests.
                  What all of the people sometimes described by these terms have in common is a lot of enthusiasm for some subject.  Jocks of course are the least abhorrent of all these classes of people, because usually their thing is sports.  A lot of people like sports.  

        

                   What gives?  Why do we label and try to hermetically seal away enthusiastic people with strong interests in a subject?  For sure it isn’t because they are boring.  In fact, usually they have a lot more to say about a much more diverse range of topics than your typical “cool” person.   

Actually, lets look at that word "cool" a little more.  Here are a few meanings:

cool |ko͞ol|

adjective

• showing no friendliness toward a person or enthusiasm for an idea or project: he gave a cool reception to the suggestion for a research center.

• free from excitement or anxiety: he prided himself on keeping a cool head | she seems cool, calm, and collected .

• (of jazz, esp. modern jazz) restrained and relaxed.

2 informal fashionably attractive or impressive: I always wore sunglasses to look cool.

• used to express acceptance or agreement: if people want to freak out at our clubs, that's cool.

            Why is it that "cool" is how we express acceptance of a person or thing?  Cool has a lot of connotations of being restrained, unenthusiastic, not easily excitable, and unfriendly.  Basically, this is conformity on a stick.  Why is it cool to be cool?  Because it lets us all pretend to be clones of everyone else.  Not everyone loves marine biology?  That can’t be cool.  Those people who do are different.  Most people can’t really talk to computers?  Oh no, its not cool to talk to computers!  If you do that, you will stick out, and we will call you a nerd, a techie, or a dweeb.  You adore practicing with a katana?  It makes you feel like you are standing on a mystic mountaintop engaged in some epically fabulous cause?  Agh!  What a freak!  We can't eve begin to describe how much of a freak you are!  You trespass on our beautiful, beautiful illusion of sameness!  You are challenging our uni-mind world view!

            Basically, it is so much easier to be "cool," because it is opting out of all that hard work that goes into developing a strong interest in something.  Here is a new definition of cool for you: “the cowardly process of seeking sameness with everyone in your peer group in order to try to please the maximum number of people, with the least expenditure of effort.”  People who ardently pursue uncommon interests stand out against this Borg-like thought process.  Instead of trying to understand, we tend to laugh and categorize them, in a weak attempt to avoid noticing our own boring sameness with others.

           Clearly, we aren't boring, because we are coolly forging our own path, and sticking it to the man.  

        

            Here we have a classic example of something that was, for a time, really cool. 

            This style has been suggested to be, among other things, a rebellion against the nerd habit of wearing the pants high.  It is a rebellion against normality, a firm assertion of individuality, a major counter-culture rebellion.  We knew for a fact this was a major rebellion against normality, because so many cool people were doing it, (putting so many dollars into the pockets of clothing retailers.  http://www.pantsaggin.com).  

           Yay!  You have totally distinguished yourself from your uncle Bob and Grandma Sue, by dressing like every other person your age in your neighborhood!  How cool!  Surely no young person has ever been this cool ever before!  The thing is, it was cool.  Why?  Because it conformed to what everyone else was doing.   Now of course, almost everyone hates this, with the burning wrath reserved only for something that “has been cool.”  It is wrath that can only be raised by the shameful knowledge that yeah, we did that too.

            Now, this is not a suggestion that we take up mooing, or some other equally "uncool" thing just in order to assert our individuality.  Not at all.  Rather, I suggest that if something tickles our fancy, whether it is cephalopods, beach volleyball, clowning, or sure, even mooing, we go for it.  At no point should we sit there and ask “is this cool?  Will people look at me funny?  Will they put me in the nerd box, or the geek box, or worst of all, the box of miscellaneous un-filed incomprehensible people?” 

            Nah.  Just go for it.  These are our lives.  Lets make them epic.  And in the words of the ancient Chinese philosopher, “there is no charge for awesomeness.”