"Not Cool" is a brilliant skewering of the mindlessness that passes as intellectualism and culture on the left. I appreciate this book more than I would from other pure-GOP talking heads, as Greg is a genuine libertarian with viewpoints frequently out of lockstep from the mainstream of the right. I applaud that he isn't afraid to defend his own positions even if they are totally unique (and a few of them are.) The principle underlying this book is that liberals define themselves as cool (Greg's logic in explaining this is spot on) and that "the cool hate nothing more than when a genuinely original thinker rejects them" (p.29.) Indeed. The examples he cites are irrefutable and anyone who dares to stand up to this groupthink is deemed "intolerant" or something that ends in "-ist" immediately.
Among Gutfeld's most frequent targets are the loony positions endorsed by celebrities who always claim the high ground even if they are endorsing radicals like the Weather Underground, which Robert Redford used as a basis for his "The Company You Keep," a film with great variance from the facts of the actual killings involved. I heartily approve of Gutfeld's proposal that "celebrities and activists who adore violent radicals should be forced to meet the relatives of those adorable violent radicals" (p. 67.) This is no dry book of political commentary, though: Gutfeld's somewhat random, scathing and sarcastic sense of humor comes through nearly constantly ("I made a vow years ago not to see any movie starring Robert Redford or Susan Sarandon unless they are documentaries that culminate in them being eaten alive in a vat of European congers," p.69.) A sound policy.
Just because he's sarcastic and scornful doesn't mean there isn't a lot of thought and insight behind his proclamations, for example the chapter "Killer Cool" begins aptly thus: "If you're looking for the worst person in the room, find the guy wearing the "Free Mumia" button, as a show of support for a cop killer." This is a rich vein for Gutfeld to mine, as it is perhaps the biggest chink in the armor of the left, and the thought process comes to a head in the excellent chapter "How Heathens Become Hip," which begins with commentary about Hugo Chávez. When Chávez, a murderous thug, died the cool came calling: "When Chávez bit the dust, who did we see? Sean Penn. Oliver Stone. Jimmy Carter. Joe Kennedy. All decorating the corpse with wreaths of blithering blather." (Do we even need to read Michael Moore's tweets on the matter?) Gutfeld contrasts this to the death of Margaret Thatcher a few weeks later at "the National Union of Students conference in Sheffield, where some delegates actually cheered when told of Thatcher's death" (pp. 96-104.) Mind you none of these students were old enough to actually remember Thatcher, but when a British Celebrity expressed her condolences on Twitter "she was met with vile slurs (all of which rhymed with the word 'bunt.')" "Rolling Stone" putting the Boston Bomber on the cover is cited as an appalling glorification of evil in the amoral world of the cool: he explains that he'd like to read the issue with Bob Dylan on the cover ("the man loved Barry Goldwater") but he can no longer buy it and support the editorial viewpoint it furthers, concluding "Me, I'm getting a subscription to 'Cat Fancy.' When was the last time a cat blew up anything?"
While I've illustrated some of Gutfeld's themes with examples (I could go on, but the review would really take a while...) but perhaps my favorite chapter in the book is "The Rise of the Free Radical" at the end which lists people who are truly cool, and who are infrequently celebrated, even though they should be due to some common elements which Gutfeld defines (p. 230) as honesty, fidelity to principle, unpredictability that starts to make sense once you realize the person has a code, and persuasive correctness. They are morally upright people who do what they genuinely believe to be the right thing even when nobody is watching, and Gutfeld provides a convincing argument for the selections. Examples include such diverse choices as black conservatives, Ambassador John Bolton, Bjorn Lomborg, Ramirez, Hirsi Ali, Iranian metal bands, legal immigrants, Truman Capote, Japan, Mike judge, Margaret Thatcher, King Buzzo, Ben Carson, and my favorite choice on the list, Skunk Baxter (former "Steely Dan" and "Doobie Brothers" guitarist, who now consults for the Pentagon as an expert in ballistic missile defense systems. Seriously.) A list like that does not spring from the mind of a party political hack, and certainly Gutfeld is no hack: he's a scary-smart, insightful, and deeply funny guy who knows how to make a point, and here his overarching point is to think for yourself. I don't agree with everything he says or believes, but that's exactly what he'd want.
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