The Death of Cool

Can it come back to life? Or will we be angry forever?

I caused a ruckus when I said cool is dead.

That happened back in 2009, and many were skeptical. People always want to be cool, they told me.

So how could cool ever die?

But I made other controversial statements and predictions in my book The Birth (and Death) of the Cool.

When an entire society loses its cool, I explained, it turns to anger and shouting to resolve every matter. Even small disagreements stir up outrage. People start screaming before they ever try talking.

In 2009, I predicted that the next 20 years, more or less, would be a time of seething rage and relentless social conflict. The cool laid-back communication styles of the past would disappear. Instead, public discourse would be blunt and confrontational.

I didn’t want this to happen. But my analysis told me this was inevitable.

We would eventually return to a friendlier, more relaxed culture—cool would come back to life—but not anytime soon. Maybe by 2030 we might be in a better place, but there would be hell to pay before we got there.

---

If you want to support my work, please take out a premium subscription (just $6 per month).

---

Almost two decades have elapsed since I made those predictions. So this is a good time to revisit them.

Did cool really die? If so, will it return? Or are we cursed to live forever in a cauldron of seething hot anger?

---

Let me start with a question: Why did so many people mock my predictions back in 2009—even dismissing them as total nonsense?

The first thing they pointed to was politics.

Barack Obama had just taken office, and many were optimistic—or even joyously exuberant. My critics frequently cited his election as evidence that I was dead wrong.

How could cool be dead if Obama was President?

He was cool. The world was cool. Everything would be beautiful—so how dare I say that we were entering an era of anger and hostility.

My critics insisted that we were going to enjoy a Golden Age of togetherness. We would all join hands to sing Kumbaya, and serenity would settle over the land.

I think it’s safe to say that did not happen.