It is also “cool” in school to be lefty. I live in a very conservative area. When my teenagers were trying to explain to me why they can’t debate opinions I was shocked. So I asked them-is it because it just is not cool to be conservative. They said yes-that is really it. Has nothing to do with the actual issues or the instructional material (which we have fought to make neutral or middle). Public schools do trend left but it is the cool
Image that has a firm grip in young people. Which must come from pop culture. Very disappointing that we cannot even talk about it or hold differing views.
Hence the interest in home-schooling or private/ charter schools. Public schools are indoctrination factories. Thankfully, my kids are raising my grandkids by avoiding public school.s
My public high school had a lot of conservative students and a lot of liberal students, and we had class debates about controversial issues (refugees, the Afghanistan war, racism). I appreciated the openness. College was totally different though. Students harassed each other over “offensive” social media posts, even sharing personal information to try to prevent the canceled person from getting hired after graduation.
Social media really changed everything. I did debate in the 1970s in high school and it was really quite scholarly and you had to be on your toes to listen and counter the opposing points effectively. "No debate" is the usual hypocrisy now.
Humans have always wanted to be part of the high status group, whatever that group is. This is nothing new, just as humans are herd animals to rival any sheep or dog.
I got around this with my kids by requiring them to only engage me in debate if they avoided the use of logical fallacies in arguing with me or with each other. It worked. They stopped caring about the cool factor.
It was cool back when I was in HS during Obama 1 to be liberal, too. High schoolers can be easily galvanized by vague platitudes such as Hope and Change. Also, we were coming off the neocon Wars on Terror...
Reading this, I also thought of Bridget Phatsey's recent post when she said basically that she didn't care if Gen Z didn't like her. I'm the same way. I have to be far left wing to be "cool"? No thanks. I haven't waited to be kicked out of groups, whether online or IRL. If some of that nonsense starts being dicussed or I'm personnaly attacked or insulted (as happened to me at Easter dinner) I'll leave willingly - no need to send me an invitation to leave.
Even tonight...I've been invited to a small gathering just for a chat around a fire pit. I know who's coming. No thanks...I'll stay at home in my uncool zone...with a baseball game on TV and a cold beer. It's not so bad to be "uncool"
Have you seen the video online going around of Paris vs Warsaw? Lefties are definitely trashy Paris and righties are definitely Warsaw. I prefer clean, tidy, beautiful Warsaw myself.
The coolest thing I’ve done in the past five years is to play in my ukulele group for special needs adults at an American Legion dining room in Thomaston, Maine.
If these chronically misgendered, mongoloid Hamas-supporting leftists think you're uncool, you're doing something right. And I'm not even a conservative.
How do we make Common Sense cool?? How do we break cancel culture (ie: censorship of thought) and make it the outcast? Can we make Mainstream mainstream again?
BTW: Tiger is a known golf buddy of Donald Trump's; he actually called Trump personally when he rolled his car asking for support, I am guessing. He told the cop he was on the phone with Trump. But that hasn't gotten him cancelled because Tiger is bigger than "cool". He is a golf God. Most people could not get away with all that. You are right
Tiger is also dating Vanessa Trump, ex-wife of DT Jr. He does transcend cool. He gets an enormous (undeserved, IMO) amount of forgiveness for reasons I will not speculate. Beyond transcending cool.
And it’s funny - my wife and her best friend who are avid golfers, were huge Tiger fans - note past tense. His philandering didn’t diminish their fandom, his multiple car crashes evoked sympathy - but as soon as they found out who his current girlfriend is, they became ex-Tiger fans.
Nailed it. Nothing will ever be as cool as the unspoken slogan of the Democrats to do whatever you want when you want without consequences because we care about you always…now vote for us or you won’t be happy ever again. Then the Republicans always, always, always, manage to save the Left from themselves. The Rs have become the parents that pass out the trophies to everyone. The Rs are enablers.
Ha! Back atcha my friend. Definitely don't get invited to cool parties anymore though. Which for me is a bit of a relief as I never felt comfortable. And never really enjoyed. I faked it ok.
The fun stuff? You mean, the sports events where you see men/boys stealing medals from girls? You mean the fun times in the ladies' with the men in lipstick and mini-skirts? I grew up in "cool" Madison, Wisconsin in the "cool" 1960s and 70s, and I saw plenty of cool kids having bad trips on LSD. I was the straight arrow who didn't even kiss a boy until I was 18 and got straight As. Anyone seen the "cool" follow up study just out from Finland? Its telling us that young adults who had gender surgeries and wrong sex hormones are 3-4 times more likely to have repeated mental health crises, which in Finland means they had to be hospitalized and kept in a residential setting because of suicide attempts. This is years after "life saving" medicalization, proving that the drastic surgeries didn't succeed with the fulfillment of the ideation. The surgeons especially, are not telling these patients how much pain they're going to be in, requiring addiction level doses of oxycodone and ketamines. But then, pills are cool, right?
Sorry for the sarcasm. I make up for it with a nature video. Butterflies are cool and fantastic.
Good for you for keeping an even keel amidst celebrity, Jennifer. I am an iconoclast. I do not like celebrity association and kind of sneer at those who do. It suggests you see yourself inferior to others which sound like a psychological disorder to me. The idea of "cool" is repugnant to me. I wasn't in school and observe that those who were often turned out to be messed up by adulthood since school-cool does not necessarily carry over to the rest of life. I think this distinction, those who are confident in themselves (don't care about "Cool") and those who need associations to prop themselves up (those who care deeply about being cool), is the dividing line between Left and Right. So, no, of course you do not need party invitations for validation. And of course, since you do not, you belong on the independent thinking Right.
But those who have pursued being in the cool club, need that validation. And are very unlikely to ever willingly give it up. To them it matters. It might be the only thing that matters.
It is also “cool” in school to be lefty. I live in a very conservative area. When my teenagers were trying to explain to me why they can’t debate opinions I was shocked. So I asked them-is it because it just is not cool to be conservative. They said yes-that is really it. Has nothing to do with the actual issues or the instructional material (which we have fought to make neutral or middle). Public schools do trend left but it is the cool
Image that has a firm grip in young people. Which must come from pop culture. Very disappointing that we cannot even talk about it or hold differing views.
Hence the interest in home-schooling or private/ charter schools. Public schools are indoctrination factories. Thankfully, my kids are raising my grandkids by avoiding public school.s
Mine too Brian, my son and dil are homeschooling. So thankful that their innocence is protected for a while longer.
Private and charter schools are way more liberal than most public schools
My public high school had a lot of conservative students and a lot of liberal students, and we had class debates about controversial issues (refugees, the Afghanistan war, racism). I appreciated the openness. College was totally different though. Students harassed each other over “offensive” social media posts, even sharing personal information to try to prevent the canceled person from getting hired after graduation.
Social media really changed everything. I did debate in the 1970s in high school and it was really quite scholarly and you had to be on your toes to listen and counter the opposing points effectively. "No debate" is the usual hypocrisy now.
Humans have always wanted to be part of the high status group, whatever that group is. This is nothing new, just as humans are herd animals to rival any sheep or dog.
I got around this with my kids by requiring them to only engage me in debate if they avoided the use of logical fallacies in arguing with me or with each other. It worked. They stopped caring about the cool factor.
It was cool back when I was in HS during Obama 1 to be liberal, too. High schoolers can be easily galvanized by vague platitudes such as Hope and Change. Also, we were coming off the neocon Wars on Terror...
Reading this, I also thought of Bridget Phatsey's recent post when she said basically that she didn't care if Gen Z didn't like her. I'm the same way. I have to be far left wing to be "cool"? No thanks. I haven't waited to be kicked out of groups, whether online or IRL. If some of that nonsense starts being dicussed or I'm personnaly attacked or insulted (as happened to me at Easter dinner) I'll leave willingly - no need to send me an invitation to leave.
Even tonight...I've been invited to a small gathering just for a chat around a fire pit. I know who's coming. No thanks...I'll stay at home in my uncool zone...with a baseball game on TV and a cold beer. It's not so bad to be "uncool"
Have you seen the video online going around of Paris vs Warsaw? Lefties are definitely trashy Paris and righties are definitely Warsaw. I prefer clean, tidy, beautiful Warsaw myself.
I loved Finland --- Tidy and Quiet.
Haven’t seen the video (link?) and haven’t been to Warsaw, but really enjoyed my time in Krakow. Not feeling a huge need to visit Paris again.
The coolest thing I’ve done in the past five years is to play in my ukulele group for special needs adults at an American Legion dining room in Thomaston, Maine.
That's super cool. And kind.
That’s amazing. As an aside, why do drag queens want to read to children but not to elderly or special needs adults?
Why indeed?!
Jack Hughes and the USA hockey boys are pretty damn cool. That’s an after party I would have loved to be at!! Just sayin.’ ❤️🤍💙
If these chronically misgendered, mongoloid Hamas-supporting leftists think you're uncool, you're doing something right. And I'm not even a conservative.
How do we make Common Sense cool?? How do we break cancel culture (ie: censorship of thought) and make it the outcast? Can we make Mainstream mainstream again?
BTW: Tiger is a known golf buddy of Donald Trump's; he actually called Trump personally when he rolled his car asking for support, I am guessing. He told the cop he was on the phone with Trump. But that hasn't gotten him cancelled because Tiger is bigger than "cool". He is a golf God. Most people could not get away with all that. You are right
Tiger is also dating Vanessa Trump, ex-wife of DT Jr. He does transcend cool. He gets an enormous (undeserved, IMO) amount of forgiveness for reasons I will not speculate. Beyond transcending cool.
I think it likely that Tiger has overdrawn his forgiveness account.
It seems like it should be so.
Nice term, cool, even. Forgiveness account. I'm going to run with that one.
And it’s funny - my wife and her best friend who are avid golfers, were huge Tiger fans - note past tense. His philandering didn’t diminish their fandom, his multiple car crashes evoked sympathy - but as soon as they found out who his current girlfriend is, they became ex-Tiger fans.
It must be so hard going through life seeing everything through a TDS lens. No hope for those people.
Brilliant as always. Did you happen to see the Variety piece on the *other* anti-vax McCarthy (Jenny) a few months ago? She was saying that lots of Hollyweird is secretly MAHA/MAGA but keep it on the down-low for the reasons you describe. https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/jenny-mccarthy-hollywood-conservatives-hiding-maha-1236612761/
I did see that! Not at all surprising. I've heard same from other LA denizens/hollywood adjacent types.
Nailed it. Nothing will ever be as cool as the unspoken slogan of the Democrats to do whatever you want when you want without consequences because we care about you always…now vote for us or you won’t be happy ever again. Then the Republicans always, always, always, manage to save the Left from themselves. The Rs have become the parents that pass out the trophies to everyone. The Rs are enablers.
I think you are pretty cool.
Ha! Back atcha my friend. Definitely don't get invited to cool parties anymore though. Which for me is a bit of a relief as I never felt comfortable. And never really enjoyed. I faked it ok.
Accurate, unfortunately.
Traditionally ‘cool ‘ was based on independence, rebelliousness, not caring what other people thought about you or your behavior.
I still believe that to be the case although the elite have construed ‘cool’ to a specific ideology.
Where are the current counterparts to James Dean, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra??
We do have Denzel Washington, a very cool dude, but not enough of them!
The fun stuff? You mean, the sports events where you see men/boys stealing medals from girls? You mean the fun times in the ladies' with the men in lipstick and mini-skirts? I grew up in "cool" Madison, Wisconsin in the "cool" 1960s and 70s, and I saw plenty of cool kids having bad trips on LSD. I was the straight arrow who didn't even kiss a boy until I was 18 and got straight As. Anyone seen the "cool" follow up study just out from Finland? Its telling us that young adults who had gender surgeries and wrong sex hormones are 3-4 times more likely to have repeated mental health crises, which in Finland means they had to be hospitalized and kept in a residential setting because of suicide attempts. This is years after "life saving" medicalization, proving that the drastic surgeries didn't succeed with the fulfillment of the ideation. The surgeons especially, are not telling these patients how much pain they're going to be in, requiring addiction level doses of oxycodone and ketamines. But then, pills are cool, right?
Sorry for the sarcasm. I make up for it with a nature video. Butterflies are cool and fantastic.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FLjSyRCwniQ
While Jay Z holds the reins of the SB halftime show, you’ll never see a white person headline that gig…just sayin’🤷♂️
You are a brave woman. Thanks for breaking it down here. …No further questions at this time, your honor.
Good for you for keeping an even keel amidst celebrity, Jennifer. I am an iconoclast. I do not like celebrity association and kind of sneer at those who do. It suggests you see yourself inferior to others which sound like a psychological disorder to me. The idea of "cool" is repugnant to me. I wasn't in school and observe that those who were often turned out to be messed up by adulthood since school-cool does not necessarily carry over to the rest of life. I think this distinction, those who are confident in themselves (don't care about "Cool") and those who need associations to prop themselves up (those who care deeply about being cool), is the dividing line between Left and Right. So, no, of course you do not need party invitations for validation. And of course, since you do not, you belong on the independent thinking Right.
But those who have pursued being in the cool club, need that validation. And are very unlikely to ever willingly give it up. To them it matters. It might be the only thing that matters.
'...School-cool does not does not necessarily carry over to the rest of life'.
This.