We've all been in that stage where we follow a certain trend, where we try to be one of the cool guys. We try to follow and "do as they do". We do exactly what they do. Never in our high school days we wanted to be "uncool" or "dorky". We always wanted to fit in and be looked up by others. It is like we have this reputation we are eagerly protecting.
Throughout my research, I stumbled upon an article by Jake Moore called "A Different Viewpoint on Kilbourne's Article on "Being cool". It was about his perspective on being cool. He said that being cool is "more than just an excuse for teenage behavior". He later understood that it was "phases of maturity". "Assumptions are immature judgments that people make, and teasing and physical attacks are immature actions that assumptions can lead to.", he said that those are some reasons why college is great step to be more mature. All the immaturity you had back in high school would eventually be gone "any maturation incomplete after high school can be completed in college" as he stated. In his article he also shared some of his stories back in high school which supported his ideas in the topic of "being cool".
Reading through his article (before he shared his story) I actually had another question "why do we want to be cool?". It did kind of sounded stupid, that we try our best to become one of the "cool" guys. But then as I continued and as I understood it more it did make sense why we try to be cool. It's another form of hiding as I understood it. Being uncool is kind of a ticket for you getting beat up. That is true, since unpopular people tend to get teased and beat up most of the time just because they are not like the cool guys. They were always the outcasts. They always get overpowered by fame and popularity.
Jake Moore also said that "I think assumptions get people into trouble, and college many times provide a clean slate where many new students can shed all the assumptions and just be themselves."
As he reached the end of the story, he said that "I got to know a lot of people, and hardly of them fit into the stereotypes they fit back in high school.". I thought of that as a cruel way of life, stereotyping people. We always want to put label on people, which apparently isn't much of a brand new thing to any of us. It is wrong, and as I read his article I understood that people shouldn't be more assuming. It just leads to more and more tension.
The way I see it, being cool isn't really just being cool. There is more to it than just that. Cool just sets status quos, which apparently nowadays we abide by it. We treat this status quo as if it's a commandment, and because of that we try to follow it which becomes into a pyramid where there are higher people. As I understood it, coolness would just be noticed until you are known, not through popularity but on how you really are. With that, maybe we can say that being cool is just another way of saying being ourselves and being mature enough to really care about what others think about us.
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