Behind every awful, dangerous decision destroying America lurks one
evil beast: THE COOL
NOT COOL
The Hipster Elite and Their War on You
Now, with NOT COOL: The Hipster Elite and Their War on You (Crown Forum, March 18, 2014), Gutfeld, whose previous book The Joy of Hate spent seven weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, offers up his amusing yet piercingly true theory that America is suffering under the oppression of the liberals and self-appointed edgy tastemakers—“the Cool”—who are dangerously in control of deeming what is good and what is bad in our society at the expense of forgotten values like hard work, honesty, and fidelity to principle.
From politics to the personal, from fashion to food, from the campus to the locker room, the desire to be cool has infected all aspects of our lives. At its most harmless, it is annoying. At its worst, it is deadly, on a massive scale. The Cool are the termites of life, infiltrating every nook and cranny and destroying it from within. The Cool report the news, write the scripts, teach our children, run our government—and each day they pass judgment on those who don’t worship their coolness. The Cool fawn over terrorists, mock the military, and denigrate employers. They are, in short, awful people.
So what is perceived as cool in today’s world that Gutfeld argues is exactly the opposite? Just to name a few:
Dependency as an acceptable lifestyle, independent of achievement. To the Cool there is no shame in letting someone else pay your way (including the government), even if you could pay it yourself.
Ridiculing women, minorities, and gays who reject this culture of dependency and victimization. Don’t hate them because they value capitalism and hard work.
Movements that reject American values in favor of American guilt. See Occupy Wall Street as one example, rejected by sensible Americans but coddled by the media.
Evil in film as a lesson plan for a romantic, rebellious reality. Any person, organization or thing that rebels against structure is heroic, while anyone with a blackberry or briefcase is Hollywood shorthand for evil.
Politics is way cool, as long as it’s progressive. Conservatives by nature hate politics and politicians. Liberals love it, because it makes them feel cool.
Hero worship of celebrities based on fake edginess. Johnny Depp is not really a pirate. He’s a walking thrift store lamp. Doesn’t anyone remember when he was just a twerp trashing hotel rooms?
In NOT COOL, Gutfeld debunks the phony strategies the Cool use to enslave us and lays out the battle plan for reclaiming the real American ideal of cool (building businesses, protecting freedom at home and abroad, taking responsibilities for your actions, and leaving other people alone to live as they damn well please). NOT COOL fights back against the culture of fakes, elitists, and creeps who want your soul. Entertaining and provocative, it is a guidebook to overcoming the Cool’s authoritarian regime and reemerging free of their chains forever.
Greg Gutfeld is a bestselling author and the irreverent co-host of Fox News Channel’s The Five, and star of their late night show, Red Eye, whose smart, hilarious, and subversive commentary on American politics and society has helped propel his programs up the ratings charts and firmly established Gutfeld as the clearheaded, caustic voice of reason—and comic relief—on Fox. Each night The Five draws well over two million viewers and Red Eye draws more viewers than many cable shows do in primetime. In their time slots both shows top all other cable programs in reaching viewers 25 to 54 years old and, according to Nielsen data, had their most-watched years to date in 2013.
