Bad

I will occasionally toss out the word Bad when referring to Nomads - Reactives, that is, those who were children during an Awakening, folks like Generation X. Usually I will let the word speak for itself, capitalized to indicate I Mean Something In Particular. Which I do.

 Both Generations and the follow-up The Fourth Turning have charts that aim to describe attributes of the different generational archetypes. (In the former, it's called "Peer Personalities by Generational Type" on page 365 while the latter is "Archetypes in History" on page 98.) One of the strengths of the model is the recognition that people change over time, as does how they are perceived. Some of the change is the move from one stage in life to another: Actions that are acceptable while learning life in youth cannot often be carried along when raising new life in adulthood. Other changes reflect the attitude of the current Turning, like mid-life Heroes basking in the afterglow of the High contrasted with mid-life Nomads trying to survive the Crisis.

In any case, the charts give one-word descriptions of the archetypes at different stages. To describe the Hero "reputation as child," the word given is "good," while Artists are described as "placid" and Prophets as "spirited."*

The corresponding word used for us Nomads?  "Bad."

While it may not be exactly as intended, it also works out that "bad people" in stories - whether it's books, movies, or television - are often Nomads. The elder daughters in King Lear, Beavis & Butthead, Lt.Col Cage (who tries blackmailing a general to avoid combat) in Edge of Tomorrow - the best that can be said at the start is that they may strive for redemption. And could even succeed. 

If you see a bad person, there's some better-than-usual chance you are looking at a Nomad. Which is why I'll often use Bad as shorthand for - well, for everything here in this post, and on those charts, and really in most of what Strauss&Howe have to say about these cohorts.

The U2 song doesn't really have much to do with this. It's not about Gen Xers in particular, although it seems likely that many of the heroin addicts from whom it drew inspiration were of that cohort. Although it could be a theme song for our generation.

* In Generations, the Prophet archetype is called the "Idealist" and instead of "spirited" they were "stormy." The (Boomer) authors presumably considered this change an improvement.