Bob Schwartz

Don’t ask me how I got here. Okay, ask.

I was reading about the quirky behaviors and preferences of Gen Z (don’t use capital letters, don’t learn how to drive, don’t run bar tabs, etc.). I don’t much believe in the generational taxonomy. I belong to a generation of about 75 million people, and the list of shared important characteristics (other than approximate distance to death) is a short one. Still, demos matter to media and marketers, so I’ll go skeptically along with it.

I can’t quite explain, but thinking about how Gen Z thinks of itself as special and suited for the times, I thought about a different generation and a different time. Specifically, I thought about Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, and Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991). The artist, the band, the genre and the song are solidly Gen X.

Teen Spirit contains watchwords of disaffection that have endured for the generations since:

I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us…
Oh well, whatever, never mind

That thought led me to Chris Cornell, Soundgarden, and Black Hole Sun (1994), another enduring anthem of the generation.

What does this have to do with Gen Z, Gen X or my generation? I don’t know. If anything, I guess my hope is that whatever Gen Z is up to with its quirky and special ways, they listen to this music and learn to love this music and the gifted artists who made it. (Is it worth mentioning that the YouTube video of Teen Spirit has over 2 billion views?)

Impermanence

Orchid dried. Orchid flowered.

© 2025 by Bob Schwartz

Get sane and balanced

Regimes thrive in an environment of insanity and imbalance. They encourage it. Whatever process or technique you use to cultivate more sanity and balance, practice it or find one. You cannot resist a regime if you and your cohort are not thinking straight. So move toward sane and balanced and help others to get there.

Strategize

Once you are thinking straight, think strategically. This means knowing what you want to achieve, what the point is, and how to achieve it. There is a natural tendency to conceive the ultimate objective as the end of a regime. In the case of a democracy that has become authoritarian, that takes the form of planning to win the next elections. Winning elections is a worthy goal, but that is going to take time, and is not guarantee. Reigmes are built piece by piece, and resistance must be built piece by piece.

Mockery, ranting and rhetoric are not action

Mockery, ranting and rhetoric can be cathartic. These may have a strategic point, as in encouraging ourselves to be optimistic and committed. And it’s really fun to laugh. Some combination of laughter and anger may be beneficial and uplifting. We may not want to stop, but it is important to investigate what the laughter and anger accomplish by way of resistance.

Don’t be distracted

This is a time of almost literally infinite distractions. Our interests and passions are elements of our lives. But just as being over-obsessed with a regime imbalances us, so does over obsession with any of these distractions. Is it “important” that a superstar is launching the latest era of their career? Nothing says you have to care more about the rise of the regime than you do about that superstar. It’s a matter of balance.