The "cool zone" is a neologism from 2020 referring to a period of political instability and civil disorder caused by high unemployment rates and low trust in government. Coined by Bernie Sanders volunteer Sean Moorhead on April 8, 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic and poor government response in the United States led to double-digit unemployment rates and thousands of deaths a day, it refers to "a period in history that's super cool to read about, but much less cool to live through".
The phrase gained popularity as the George Floyd protests against police brutality spread across the United States at the end of May 2020, causing additional police brutality, curfews, and deployment of the National Guard and US Army. At the time, the US unemployment rate was around 20%, and as high as 33% in some states. Users described that the country had "entered the Cool Zone".
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