What is Hip?

Tell me tell me is you think you know...

But the real question tonight is a slight variation.  What is Cool?

It used to be that smoking was cool.  That was all part of the plan to get people hooked.  Wanna be cool?  Joe Camel is cool.  Joe smokes, so I should too.  Of course Joe was also a dromedary, and maybe that is what made him cool -- I mean Disney made a whole movie about the Hunchback of Notre Dame, so maybe it really was the hump on his back that made Joe oh so cool.

But I think somewhere along the way smoking has lost some of its coolness.  Maybe it is still cool with some set of people that I am not as well connected to.  The Fonz didn't think smoking was cool -- and he was cool, right? 

I think somewhere along the way in society we changed our general outlook on smoking.  We went from doctors recommending it as a way to calm people down, to Surgeon Generals warning us about the dangers (and C. Everett Koop has that cool beard).  I still remember the story from my college Chemistry professor.  He smoked when he was younger, and even when they were finding out how dangerous it was, he kept on smoking.  But then they found one chemical that was in it (and you will have to forgive my memory as I can't tell you which it was) and he gave up smoking cold turkey. 

So how did we come to make smoking uncool?  I want the specifics.

So, you are probably wondering why I want to know.  Smoking is not my usual topic.   

Just the other day someone told me that it would be cool to own a car.  Now I will admit that this person knows me, and they may have been saying this just to get me all riled up -- I certainly hope so.

But somewhere out there, there actually are people who believe that it would be cool to own a car.  Now I want to be careful here (which might be a first).  There certainly have been some incredible cars designed over time.  There are a lot of cars that were designed back in the heyday of cars that I still find cool.  And there are times when a car is an appropriate form of transportation.  For example when I was in college the regular grocery store was beyond walking distance, a car was appropriate for that.

But owning a car when you live in the city, and have access to a wonderful mass transit system?  I am not sure I see what is so cool about that.  A major financial investment (that loses substantial value the second you take ownership)?  Something that needs to be filled with increasingly expensive petrol?  Something that requires expensive maintenance from time to time, and yet still loses value?  Something that you have to park and then later find?  That in numerous cases parking isn't free?

No, sorry.  Where I live,  I don't see the cool factor.

-- Andy