Can Embracing Punk Save Gen Z — and Our Flailing Country?

New York Times

04-06-2025

The writer and performer John Cameron Mitchell has a message for members of Generation Z: Stop playing it safe and embrace punk. Mitchell, who wrote 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch,' sits down with Opinion's deputy editorial director of culture, Carl Swanson, to talk about what he learned touring around the country and talking with college students about rebellion.
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The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Please note: parts of this conversation contain strong language.
Carl Swanson: My name is Carl Swanson, and I'm the deputy editorial director for culture at Times Opinion.
We are only four months into the second Trump administration, so it's too early to say what the cultural response will be, but it's not too early to ask the question: What should the response be from art, music and from youth culture? The actor, writer and director John Cameron Mitchell recently wrote an essay for us with an answer to that question: 'Today's Young People Need to Learn How to Be Punk.'
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