Seriously, you're not that cool

Thorsten Botz-Bornstein believes that being cool is not very cool “The cool person lives in a constant state of alienation,” he says, making his point loud and clear. Through historic examples of how the transition from the real meaning of cool to the “common” meaning today and his ideas on what it really means, Botz-Bornstein shows us that being cool has lost the reality of the word and has transformed into more of a “culture” then a single word with meaning. His ideas on what cool is and is not, are very true; which is seen in ever day life, especially in schools.

Botz-Bornstein belives that the emergence of cool as a new culture, originated from the African-American “men at the time of slavery.” He establishes that the reason for this was that their “cool attitude” saved them from the hardships of being slaves. From this, Botz-Bornstein deduced that cool meant “represents a paradoxical fusion of submission and subversion.” From the use of explaining how the beginning of the cool attitude developed, he establishes his opinion very strongly, supporting his reasoning with historic evidence.

He then goes on to explain that the term “cool” has taken a different turn, and become a full culture of how to act. He claims the modern cool is based on the African-American senses of style and attitude. Botz-Bornstein belives that being cool now is more of what people see instead of what the original word meant. He explains that being a winner is cool, but that when someone who wants to do anything to win is not cool. The explanation for the attitude of being cool is described as being able to distinguish the difference between over doing cool and really being cool.

Botz-Bornstein also believes that the people who are just acting cool have an advantage to actually being cool. He uses the word “subversion” which is described as “undermining power and authority” (Dictionary). This means that cool people, in his opinion, are the ones who balance being cool and being reasonable. This shows, through his balance of opinion, as there is to every circumstance, that there is a balance and that to be one, you have to be the other.