The Cool Zone

About

The Cool Zone is a slang term used in Leftist Twitter circles for the period of social unrest in American history defined by the coronavirus pandemic and the 2020 George Floyd Protests. The term comes from a satirical tweet by Twitter user @SeanRMoorhead, who wrote in April, "If unemployment exceeds 30% and distrust of the political process becomes widespread, there is a danger that the United States will enter what historians call The Cool Zone."

Origin

On April 8th, 2020, Twitter user @SeanRMoorhead^[1] tweeted, "If unemployment exceeds 30% and distrust of the political process becomes widespread, there is a danger that the United States will enter what historians call The Cool Zone," gaining over 6,700 retweets and 31,000 likes (shown below).

Spread

The tweet grew in relevancy over the following two months, as America faced heightened tensions due to high unemployment levels and the coronavirus pandemic. On May 8th, 2020 WIll Menaker^[2] of Chapo Trap House quote-tweeted it, saying "Been thinking a lot about this tweet lately," gaining over 90 retweets and 2,000 likes (shown below, left). On May 28th, Twitter user @brompts^[3] wrote, "Can't really emphasize enough that if the cops that murdered George Floyd aren't charged, along with all the other bullshit going on, we're going to rapidly descend into the Cool Zone."

Use of the phrase on Twitter surged during the George Floyd Protests, with people using the phrase tweeting as though "The Cool Zone" had arrived. On May 29th, Twitter user @lib_crusher^[4] responded to news that a Target had been looted by writing, "We've officially entered The Cool Zone," gaining over 190 retweets and 2,400 likes (shown below, left). User @gloomfather^[5] joked, "Unnerving silence on the phone after I call my dad a 'Karen' for not recognizing that the Minneapolis protests mark the beginning of a historical 'cool zone.'"

On May 30th, Urban Dictionary user Baldemoto posted a definition for "The Cool Zone,"^[6] defining it as, "In leftist spaces, a time period marked by a massive political, social, and economic emancipation as a result of a crisis arising from the failures of capitalism. i.e. , a revolution." They also added, "Popular examples of The Cool Zone include the August Revolution, the Cuban Revolution, the October Revolution, the February Revolution, the Spanish Revolution of 1936, the Zapatista uprising, among others." On June 3rd, Vice^[7] published an article about "The Cool Zone" as it relates to the current period in American history.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References