Feelings

"[i]People who embrace their feelings, they’re kind of the last outlaws in this post-modern world.

So much of our culture, especially Indie Rock over the past few decades has been so geared towards, you know, pushing away all feelings.

There’s been such a big emphasis on things being ironic - People trying to detach themselves from things - Bands just being above everything for so long, like too cool for school.

So we’re making a point to give a shit. 'Cause in this world, it’s just crazy enough to work.[/i]" - Patrick Stickles

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It’s an awesome quote, and it not only applies to music, but personalities in general.

There’s so many out there that mask everything. They act like zombies - Live like zombies.

It’s not ‘cool’ to feel, to believe, to care, to stand for something concrete.

Heart & Mind

Ah I used to be one of those zombies… I used to think crying was for the weak for some reason, probably because media paints it like that. But now, I cry probably every other day. At least once a week. I let it all out instead of being angry. I used to be so hateful. Not so much anymore, I agree people need to stop being zombies.

I don’t care what is cool to anyone else. Being ‘cool’ is just some teenage bull shit that some people carry into adult hood as well. It just shows how immature they are by carrying something so petty.

Power to you, man. It’s hard to cope with an open heart - At least for me.

Yeah - Feelings aren’t an asset to slaves.

My father was the one who made me believe emotion was weak and to be overcome. In recent years, he explained that it was likely due to his own father - A WW2 soldier.

It’s understandable why emotions needn’t to be ‘dealt with’.

Ben, is this your official attempt to come out of the closet?

You’re an honest guy right?..have you ever tried your mothers clothes on?..did it make you feel sexy in those high heels, the pressure on your nail polished toes…so free now, Ben …

It’s not exactly a fully-formed cultural movement, but there’s this idea of a New Sincerity which seems to describe what’s going on with some people.

[size=85]The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall actually to endorse and instantiate single-entendre principles. Who treat of plain old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness and hip fatigue. These anti-rebels would be outdated, of course, before they even started. Dead on the page. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naive, anachronistic. Maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe that’s why they’ll be the next real rebels. Real rebels, as far as I can see, risk disapproval. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal: shock, disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today’s risks are different. The new rebels might be artists willing to risk the yawn, the rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of gifted ironists, the “Oh how banal.” To risk accusations of sentimentality, melodrama. Of overcredulity. Of softness. Of willingness to be suckered by a world of lurkers and starers who fear gaze and ridicule above imprisonment without law. Who knows. ~DFW
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Related: What we talk about when we talk about the New Sincerity
Related: Sincerity, Not Irony, Is Our Age’s Ethos

The modern obsession with irony and cynicism can be seen as symptomatic of a detachment from life, where people conceal their actual cares and feelings of investment. There is a degree of obligatory “coolness” that must be shown. Instead of attending to feelings of, say, disappointment or reverence, and thus being moved to some kind of action, one finds an ironic humor in all things, and from this gleans a sense of superiority without doing anything.

Some people are turning away from the popular modes of expression, e.g. irony and cynicism. They risk being thought of as culturally unsophisticated or naive by being openly and authentically invested in the world.

I swear, this place is becoming tranny central. Cudos.

PS regarding the topic, nothing wrong with being truly cool, you know?

What does it mean to be cool. I don’t think I ever was. Not a zombie, just an introvert.

I dunno, if you’re truly cool your groovy in my books.