Hw 33- Outline

2. Coolness - as a heroic internal narrative and the successful command of attention and social significance - is a basic human need. We need to be cool - what are the best ways for us to do that, individually and collectively?

Thesis: In our minds, we all play the protagonist in the story that is our life. Being cool plays into the internal narrative that we have because it means that other people recognize that we are an important character. It means you're noticed and not on the sidelines. But this desire is something we all yearn for and always will because it is a basic human need. We want to be important, to someone-- anyone. So we look for things that make us different, that makes us special, to get that attention.

supporting points

Point 1: To be cool, people aggrandize themselves and one way is through dress.
- Cool hunting- Adornment to attract notice, peacocking.
-how comercialism, consumerism, and wealth play into cool

Point 2: The next way is through attitude, mainly detached or in a way that stands up to an authority figure
Cool stories-characters have attention of other poeple

Point 2: . But coolness shouldn't be just about adornment or having the right clothes, that can be part of it, but it shouldn't be all there is to it. It should go deeper than that.
-Tattoos- John Fanning, what it meant to him initially and later on. Forming a connection w/ his band.
-Cool research- what being cool really means, NYT, about it being something personal

Point 3: Why we want it- Wanting to be cool or wanting attention is a basic human need that comes with the human condition. We want someone to make an impact on someone before we're gone because we only have one life to live, and once its gone, that's it.