Posted on 02/15/2024 4:22:18 PM PST by Libloather
Age matters, but so do words.
While pundits debate President Biden’s cognitive fitness for office and the possible motivations behind prejudicial language contained in special counsel Robert K. Hur’s classified documents report, the rest of us have a different problem: the “elderly.”
Older people themselves aren’t the issue, but the way we talk about them is. We must change the language our society uses to describe older adults.
Read more: Calmes: Will that special counsel report light a fire under Biden the Elderly?
Among the ageist stereotypes in Hur’s characterization of Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the word “elderly” leaps out as most cringe-worthy in its power to conjure images of frailty and helplessness.
Many of us who study aging avoid “senior citizen” and “elderly,” which can reinforce negative stereotypes that isolate old people as a different and separate social group.
Sociologist Arlie Hochschild calls the seemingly respectable "senior citizen" an "unfortunate phrase suggesting a large boy scout with a gold watch.” But just because “elderly” is so ubiquitous doesn’t make it appropriate or innocuous.
Ageism remains a widely accepted prejudice. I love late-night talk shows, yet a sampling of hosts’ recent monologues reveals rampant jokes targeted toward old people (yes, I’m looking at you, Stephen Colbert). Ageism defies political persuasion, as one can see in Nikki Haley’s “grumpy old men” campaign, which takes cheap shots at Biden's and Donald Trump’s ages. Picking on older people doesn’t seem to stir the same type of outrage as insults about other social identities such as race, ethnicity and gender.
Read more: Opinion: Biden, Feinstein, Trump — how do we know when our leaders are too old?
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yahoo found out their buddy is a retard
That was in Chico Ca, and my wife and I were in the audience.
There was speculation that the local union hired was responsible for being sure the railing was not secured well.
Yet he got up and never missed a beat. To this day I am still proud if that vote for stoke, especially since back in 2019 he stood up and defended Trump for doing what Republicans have been promising for years.
You mean in the car in front of you there was a 1930’s hat at the steering wheel?
Darn geezers.
Exactly
::I’m laughing at the stupid article and the stupid author.....::
~~~
As is this old lady. Yes, we elderly are a separate social group, despite what this dopey writer says.
“If trump was the oldest we would be seeing none stop articles about why old age is an issue.”
All the press did was trash Reagan for being too old and crucify him years later for supposedly having Alzheimer’s as president.
It’s all about their team always. Nothing more. We good. You bad. We win. You lose.
What an idiot. Cliche's exist because they are true.
I am in my mid 60s and spent almost everyday with my Mom the last three years of her life. She had this idea that tomorrow she will get healthier when every event pointed the other way. When she was 88 she told me that she wanted to go to sleep and wakeup in Heaven. A month later she told me that she was going to get a pacemaker. I told her that is not how it works- a pacemaker prevents her from going to sleep and waking in Heaven. Her last two months of life were miserable, painful and in the hospital.
My step mother is going through the same thing now. She keeps telling me that she is going to working out harder and start walking and .... Right now, she needs help getting out of the bed and going to the bathroom. Mentally, one moment she is talking about how she is bored sitting in her room (which has been her life for the last 4 years) and the next moment she is telling me how she went to Europe over the weekend (which never happened).
Medical science is keeping us alive past our expiration date.
GET OFF MY LAWN!
Bob Dole was very wounded in WWII combat. The hand and arm where he always held a pen was severely damaged and paralyzed. It took him years to recover to where he was. I cut him a lot of slack for that.
This article made my testosterone levels go down.
Ceaseless yahoo faggotry…
These same idiots slammed Reagan constantly. These same idiots slammed McCain constantly. But Biden. Hero of the republic with the vigor and fitness of a man 1/4 his age....
Why does one of our older folks insist he’s recently spoken to Francois Mitterand of Germany and Helmut Kohl?
Stacy makes a point without stating the point.
She is only 43 and yet she’s a blithering idiot just like Joetato.
A joke is funny, because there is an element of truth to it. Lighten up Francis. I have a funny one or a few dozen that poke fun at b people, j’s, wops, spics, honkies, irish, scottish, even russians. Guess which ones are acceptable? old and whites are fair game, especially Karens and the old white men.
Did you read the article and the liberal loathing in it?
Who can be self centered with 5 daughters,19 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren? I am the belle of any ball.
The problem is, if I try and cue them to problems in our society or government, they text back UNSUBSCRIBE. Most do not want to know. I get in trouble informing the grandkids.
When I was a kid I read the Newspaper after Dad tossed it. We would discuss the 5 W’s. My grandmother who was a Nixon supporter in 1960 gave her opinion, and when she left us in 85, she was still preaching Conservatism coherently. I loved her dearly, she was in my life from cradle to grave.
I remember her cooking in the JFK timeframe. I wanted a snack, which was something called an apple or orange. She said “Wait for your dinner”. I came back crawling and asked her “How long does it take to starve to death”? She nearly wet her pants laughing.
I was about 6, and while other cousins talked about how she should be put in a nursing home, I about broke her neck hugging her when she came “home” from their houses after a visit. What is this thing about disrespecting your elders? Young and ignorant punks!
Age has nothing to do with it. It is whether people are considerate, or not. There is also the factor that most young people are truly uneducated and don’t know it.
I did, the words I wrote were not aimed at anyone in general. I apologize for my inability to express myself in the manner I intended.
The libs have destroyed humor, plain and simple. When us older people leave this plane, like Earth, they will live in a humorless vacuum until they are recycled.
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