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How does a person achieve "cool" through their own perspective? What influenced their perception of cool?

People act cool, because it is one of the few ways to be remembered for a period of time after death. One way to do this is having two faces. A person knows that they cannot be liked from both parents and friends if they act the same thus bringing out different characters. Another way is to be socially known or famous. We also achieve cool by having some sort of property named after someone, or can be seen and admired such as a mansion, or a park. Such attempts of cool has changed over the course of the years, from dressing nicely to poorly, from specking correctly to illiterate. But there are some things about cool that will never change, for instance, a suit on a man will probably never go out of style. Expensive toys, such as the ipod or gaming console will be loved by many. Even the things we don’t find appealing such as popped collars, cartoon network, or Canada, may be viewed as cool by a different culture or a small group of people. Everyone does whatever it takes to be cool, but to certain people only. If you are trying to appeal to your friends, you wouldn’t care what people in Russia or Japan thinks. I am trying to say that we are all acting cool as a rite of passage to a certain group. We are all acting cool, even the criminals we lock up. They too trying to do whatever it takes to be accepted by a certain person or group. The only difference between criminals and citizens is that the majority of criminals did not receive the affection from their guardians while growing up, so they come up with their own ways of receiving attention from the world. Criminals, like most of us, try to achieve cool with the same goals, such as becoming a millionaire or to be known, as we do, but with their own methods.

Money is a very effective and easy way to be known,especially when you have a large sum of cash. Attempts of gaining millions of dollars are used by businessman, sports players, fashion designers, actors/actresses. Of course we don’t know all of the people who fall into these categories, but we know at least the best or personal favorites. One widely known criminal who become a celebrity is named Alphonse Gabriel “Al” Capone, or “Scarface”. Capone was different than most people. Born in a family of eight children, he did not seek to become a barber like his dad. Capone wanted to be widely known and famous, one of the ways to become cool. His methods however were not legal. After being expelled from P.S. 133 at the age of 14, he worked wherever he can such as candy stores and bowling alleys. He soon came across Johnny Torrio who introduced him to the gangster life. He looked up to Johnny Torrio, who become his mentor and Capones' idol. One of his earlier gangs Capone was involved in was Junior Forty Thieves, Brooklyn Ripper and Five Points Gang. He later moved to Chicago. Torrio son left Chicago, leaving Capone all his wealth and shares. From there, Capone become notorious and owned a large portion of Chicago’s underworld.

“Capone was notorious during the Prohibition Era for his control of large portions of the Chicago underworld, which provided the Outfit with an estimated US $100 million per year[15] in revenue. This wealth was generated through all manner of illegal enterprises, such as gambling and prostitution,[6] although the largest moneymaker was the sale of liquor. In those days Capone had the habit of "interviewing" new prostitutes for his club himself.1Demand was met by a transportation network that moved smuggled liquor from the rum-runners of the East Coast and The Purple Gang in Detroit and local production in the form of Midwestern moonshine operations and illegal breweries. With the funds generated by his bootlegging operation, Capone's grip on the political and law-enforcement establishments in Chicago grew stronger. Through this organized corruption, which included the bribing of Mayor of Chicago William "Big Bill" Hale Thompson, Capone's gang operated largely free from legal intrusion, operating casinos and speakeasies throughout Chicago. Wealth also permitted Capone to indulge in a luxurious lifestyle of custom suits, cigars, gourmet food and drink (his preferred liquor was Templeton Rye from Iowa), jewelry, and female companionship. He garnered media attention, to which his favorite responses was "I am just a businessman, giving the people what they want" and "All I do is satisfy a public demand."[6] Capone had become a celebrity.”

Capone, unlike most of us, did not seek affection from his father the barber. He wanted to become famous just as his mentor Torrio was. He easily become known, because unlike most citizens, his methods were illegal but very entertaining. Prostitution, gambling, liquor stores, all of these were of value to many people. He was able to bribe the law enforcers, the mayor, anyone that might have got in his way. Then he brought the underworld business out of the shadows and into the street. His charm became a liking to everyone, even the media didn’t seem to mind Capone. His illegal methods got him to become a star, even after accused of murder and rape, he was still able to hold the public’s trust because he was cool. No matter how he made his money, bootlegged products, illegal breweries, he had money and fame and no one was going to call him a criminal. With money and property, he was able to buy everyone's trust and satify his costumers, in which everyone started to love him.

One of the ways of being cool or at least seemingly cool because you are being acknowledged by many people is getting attention any means necessary, through pity or heroic action. This is mostly seen through celebrities. Whether they are having another baby, or had sex in public, or addicted to drugs, it would instantaneously be on the media and magazines. There is one man who sought for this kind of attention, although he did not use the standard methods of gaining attention. Instead, Keith Jesperson, aka “The Happy Face Killer,” used fear to gain the everyone’s attention. Born with an abusive father, and a family who hates him, Keith grew up with a thirst for attention. Like Capone, he didn't want to grow up and become like his father. He sought attention from the people he wanted to grow up and become, The Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Unfortunately, after a training accident, he was dismissed and from there on he sought revenge against society. “Keith Hunter Jesperson (born April 6, 1955, Chilliwack, British Columbia) is a Canadian-born American serial killer known as the "Happy Face Killer" for the smiley face he drew on his many letters to the media and prosecutors.[1] He first drew the smiley face on the wall of a toilet where he left an anonymous confession to killing Taunja Bennett, this was hundreds of miles away from the scene of the crime. When that didn't elicit a response, he began writing letters…while Jesperson sat in the Clark County Jail for the murder of Julie Winningham, he began talking to his attorney, Thomas Phelan, about other crimes that he had committed starting with Taunja Bennett. Keith also confessed to a large number of murders that he didn't commit. He sought attention from the media by taking credit for many more murders. Many of these murders happened when he had a conclusive alibi and he later recanted most of these confessions.” Jesperson, never was given attention or love from his family (and I feel attention is something we all crave from especially from our family), he was given abuse. Abuse from his father was the only form of attention he was given and that was only from his father. He focused his experience with his father on all the victims he have murdered. His signature weapon was a rope in which he strangled his victims. He then sent varies amounts of letters to medias across the nation, always labeled with a smiley face. He later felt that confessing to more crimes then he has done would give him a higher body count, in which case would label him a bigger threat to society, for his goal was to harm society. He methods strikes fear into society, confessing to more crimes than he has committed makes him look more dangerous to society so he can become known.

Another way to look at how these criminals became to be, other than how they become who they are, but why. Why didn't Capone try to become like his father, a barber? There maybe a lot of answers to this, for instance, because he grew up with seven other siblings all trying to achieve their parents attention, there wasn't much left for Capone, so he became independent. Or because becoming a barber didn't appeal to Capone, so he did what he could to not become like his father, and Torrio was his way out. For Jesperson, he was the middle child, but he was treated like a stranger compared to his two brothers and two sisters. For instance he had to pay a thirty dollar rent while his siblings paid nothing. Also, he was the only one abused by his father, and no one in his family tried to stop the father. This of course scared Jesperson for life. But in doing so, Jesperson enjoyed torture, and in his early like, burned animals as a hobby. His path was chosen, when he started burning animals and because no one in his family cared for him, he was allowed to do this freely. Because he had no control in his life, he got a sick pleasure out of controlling who lives and who dies. These criminals path was chosen from the start of their early life and what they say as cool only because of the environment they lived in.

There are many ideas of cool, and usually a persons perception of cool comes from the environment they live in. But sometimes a person's path is not chosen by their culture, for instance, religion, ethnic, etc. Sometimes, you don't like what your culture offers, so you seek somethings else. These are all methods to become cool and fit in with a certain group. Killing is no exception. Killing has gone on for as long as a living organism was determined to live. Killing is no different than being a celebrity. They both have their ups and down, and they want to be the star attention, the unique one, out of the environment they live in. We all are trying to become “cool” so we are to be remembered for years to come, and we all will do whatever means necessary to become cool.

Sources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/jesperson/murder_1.html