Things Are Important in SF: A Supplemental Reader

Using the phrase “lol.”  I would make the argument that in SF this has actually become a post-modern joke, because saying ‘lol’ used to be cool, well actually it was never cool, that was a lie invented by Oprah, and perpetrated by pretty much anyone who tried unsuccessfully to talk about “kids today.”  But for this to work we need to start with the premise that it was in fact cool at one point to throw down an ‘lol’ instead of actually laughing. So, it used to be cool and then people on Good Morning America started talking about how cool it was, and then it instantly became uncool, because talking about something on GMA is like taking a blowtorch to froyo: it kills the cool.  So it used to be cool, and then it wasn’t, and now it is again, but this new cool factor is contingent on the idea that it isn’t. Get it?  Whether you do or not I win, because that’s exactly what post-modern means: intriguing, almost intelligible at first glance, and then murkier than Heidi’s eyes when they fill up with mascara during a good sob fest on last weeks episode of The Hills.