Honestly, at this point in my life, I consider cool signaling a worse crime than virtue signaling.
TRUE-COOL & PSEUDO-COOL
The desire to gatekeep cultural artifacts comes from an insecurity about our own (in)ability to produce valuable cultural artifacts, in which case we tether our self-worth to our knowledge of cultural artifacts unknown to others. Therefore our sense of intrinsic value diminishes when others find out about said gatekept artifacts. (If I see another ‘y’all wasn’t outside’ tweet, I’m not sure what imma do).
The mindset I just described is the primary symptom of what I’m calling PSEUDO-COOL.
TRUE-COOL involves cultivating an attitude of abundance towards cultural knowledge, and knowing that ecclectic taste alone does not, in fact, make one superior to others. Rather, those who embody and exude TRUE-COOL spend much of their time sharpening their ability to communicate their love of and enthusiasm for particular cultural phenomena, because their confidence in their own work does not preclude them from doing so widely (what’s more, they know that through the careful dissection and proliferation of a beautiful piece of culture, they are empowered further in their own practices).
That’s why, despite how commonly hated and misunderstood they are, many professional critics are paragons of TRUE-COOL.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m guilty of having been a lightning rod for PSEUDO-COOL in the past, and whether or not I’m TRUE-COOL now really isn’t for me to say.
What I do know is that molecular samples of PSEUDO-COOL flourish in the petri dish of hyperconsumerism. Cuz in reality the difference between coveting clothing by an exclusive off-luxury designer brand and coveting knowledge of that brand is negligible, especially when you wield either of those things as a defensive weapon against introspection.
To illustrate, here’s the stream of conscioussness of some sad soul operating on a PSEUDO-COOL frequency:
mine. mine. mine. miiiine. mine? OMG MINE. MINE? wait, MINE!!!??!?!?? :((( mine mine mine no mine stop no MINE please no please MINE? MINE? MINE? MIIIINEEEM!!!!MIN!#MIN!#!!!@MI#!@NMNI!@N:LKWJDGF:LKHSDJRFN:LAKG
Toni Morrison (a conduit of TRUE-COOL to say the least) said, “...just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else. This is not just a grab-bag candy game.” She said this in a slightly different context, but the sentiment applies here — savviness about the beauty of the world is a kind of freedom and a kind of power that is never to be hoarded should you aspire to TRUE-COOL.
Just to be clear, though, I’m not saying that there are never cultural movements and byproducts of those movements that should be kept under wraps. IYKYK energy is essential in many contexts. But IYKYK is a powerful force that should only be deployed tactfully in the service of explicit artistic and political principles, and never at the whims of petulant egos.
In short: those who embody TRUE-COOL revere IYKYK while those who channel PSEUDO-COOL abuse it.
And if you wanna see a few sparks of TRUE-COOL fly, just have a look .
