"Maybe you are the "cool" generation If coolness means a capacity to stay calm and use your head in the service of ends passionately believed in, then it has my admiration"
About this Quote
“Cool” is doing double duty here: a compliment with a trapdoor. Brewster borrows a word that, by the late 1960s, had become youth culture’s most portable badge - effortless, ironic, unbothered - and then quietly rewires it. If you want to be seen as the “cool” generation, he suggests, earn it on different terms: not by posture or detachment, but by disciplined composure aimed at moral purpose.
The intent is pedagogical and strategic. As an educator addressing students in an era when campuses were roiling with protest, Brewster validates their heat (“ends passionately believed in”) while insisting that passion isn’t an excuse for impulsiveness. The real prestige, he argues, is self-command: staying calm, thinking clearly, and choosing means worthy of the cause. It’s an ethic of responsible dissent dressed up in the language of youth credibility.
The subtext is a gentle rebuke to two audiences at once. To students, it’s: don’t confuse righteousness with theatrics; don’t let anger become your brand. To older critics who dismissed activists as naive or reckless, it’s: take them seriously - their passion can be paired with intellect and restraint. The conditional phrasing (“If coolness means...”) is the tell: Brewster won’t grant the word’s usual meaning. He’ll only admire their “cool” if it becomes a civic virtue, not a style.
Context matters: as Yale’s president during Vietnam-era turmoil, Brewster is modeling institutional leadership that tries to keep dialogue open without romanticizing chaos. He makes “cool” sound less like a mood and more like a method.
The intent is pedagogical and strategic. As an educator addressing students in an era when campuses were roiling with protest, Brewster validates their heat (“ends passionately believed in”) while insisting that passion isn’t an excuse for impulsiveness. The real prestige, he argues, is self-command: staying calm, thinking clearly, and choosing means worthy of the cause. It’s an ethic of responsible dissent dressed up in the language of youth credibility.
The subtext is a gentle rebuke to two audiences at once. To students, it’s: don’t confuse righteousness with theatrics; don’t let anger become your brand. To older critics who dismissed activists as naive or reckless, it’s: take them seriously - their passion can be paired with intellect and restraint. The conditional phrasing (“If coolness means...”) is the tell: Brewster won’t grant the word’s usual meaning. He’ll only admire their “cool” if it becomes a civic virtue, not a style.
Context matters: as Yale’s president during Vietnam-era turmoil, Brewster is modeling institutional leadership that tries to keep dialogue open without romanticizing chaos. He makes “cool” sound less like a mood and more like a method.
Quote Details
| Topic | Reason & Logic |
|---|
More Quotes by Kingman
Add to List
