"Our lives look a lot more interesting when they're filtered through the sexy Facebook interface. We star in our own movies, we photograph ourselves incessantly, we click the mouse and a machine confirms our sense of mastery."

Is the filtering process people use on Facebook really so different from the ordinary "filtering" of our life stories that happens when we tell people about ourselves in any other context? Sure, when talking to people we don't know so well yet, most of us don't open up immediately about our flaws and vulnerabilities and fears -- on Facebook or anywhere else. But I don't see why that is particularly problematic.

"I did this not without significant resistance, because it's very uncool to be a birdwatcher, because anything that betrays real passion is by definition uncool."

Is having a passion really "uncool?" Maybe some people think bird watching in particular is dorky, but I don't think you can generalize from just that.

Cool isn't really well defined but then again neither is passion.

But if you look at the definitions:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cool

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/passion

And lay those definitions side by side then I can easily agree that, yes, 'anything that betrays real passion is by definition uncool'.

I think the meaning of cool in this context would be closest to definition 6a from that link:

6. Slang a. Excellent; first-rate: has a cool sports car; had a cool time at the party.

Previously submitted: https://qht.co/item?id=2603659