Ageism is discrimination, such as what is done to Pres. Biden

[mysteryowl]

Definition of ageism
: prejudice or discrimination against a particular age-group and especially the elderly.

It is time to create awareness about ageism and people over 70.
I cringe when I hear comedian's slamming Biden for something related to his age. It is discrimination.

I would also say that people who are in their senior years DO behave differently than people who are in their 20's and 30's.
That is how life goes!
Time for the US to adopt respect for our elders. Elders have accumulated wisdom & experience and have a lot to pass onto everyone.
Listen up!

[mahina]

1. 100%.

Last night SNL went in hard on Joe again heavily for just tiny misspoken moments. Joe is usually very eloquent actually I think.

It’s not like Trump didn’t have tons of goofy speech problems but he was also trying to take our country down and Joe is doing nothing but trying to help us.

It’s a campaign to change the way people think and it worked when they did it to Al Gore.

I agree with everything in OP too.

Not all seniors are dim witted or technophobic

[mysteryowl]

3. Thanks

I would also say that when the elderly show signs of the body and mind changing, it does not take away from their wisdom and experience.

SNL and all the late night comedians needs to stop making so-called jokes about Biden's age.
Not funny and not helpful.

It is time for all of us to mature with how we perceive our elders.

[GoCubsGo]

14. Yes, I turned it off.

I didn't even make it through the opening before I got disgusted. I flipped it on briefly during their "news" segment, and they were back at it. I won't be watching SNL again any time soon. Stephen Colbert is teetering on the edge with me, as well. I don't mind him poking fun at the Bidenisms, but I 'm disappointed that he resorts to the cheap ageist jokes at least once or twice a week. They're not funny.

[kimbutgar]

31. Trevor Noah also makes these jokes about President Biden that piss me off

[sprinkleeninow]

22. Country destroying while doing a goofy dance move and ridiculous fist pumping.

Yet that's acceptable and repeatedly shown on the so-called 'news' outlets.

[Fritz Walter]

34. I posted a similar comment here

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1017&pid=773764

This goes WAY beyond our borders. A friend from Europe told me yesterday that the general perception there is that President Biden is senile. I’m trying to change that perception, but I’m unable to reach others in his country.

SNL has had a good run. Time for Bombast/NB¢ to move on!

[mahina]

36. Whoa.

Yikes!

[BlueSky3]

44. Far few seniors than the stereotype

have dementia or Alzheimer's. I've quoted this study from the University of Michigan often. Only 5% of people in their 70s have dementia:

https://news.umich.edu/one-in-7-americans-over-age-70-has-dementia/

Ageism seems to be the last "acceptable ism". People in their 70s, 80s, and 90s often have a lot to give. Thinking of you, Dr. Fauci and you, Nancy Pelosi, and of course of Joe Biden.

[XanaDUer2]

2. I agree

100 percent

[Chainfire]

4. The store clerks that call me "dear" or "honey" get under my skin.

I told my wife the next time I heard that I was going to tell the young woman, "Don't call me honey unless you want to give me some *****."

[sprinkleeninow]

24. I was told, "Sweetie, you have covid." Back in November when I brought myself to the local ER.

May have had a very mild version bc echogram and chest x-ray were excellent. Did land in hospital days later, but found out in January reading my chart I actually had a bad bladder infection that may have already gone into or would have gone into sepsis!!

I got a tad put off by that hospital FNP addressing me as "sweetie".

[Bayard]

46. You must not get down south much

You'll get called sweetie every time you turn around--the grocery, the bank, restaurants, and Tractor Supply.

No insult intended, just a standard greeting. And it doesn't matter how old you are.

[Chainfire]

47. 6th generation Southerner and I still find it insulting.

[Bayard]

48. Really?

Not enough niceness in the world. I find myself doing it sometimes these days.

I also like the old custom of putting, "Mr.," or, "Miss," in front of a person's first name, especially a kid addressing an adult. We were taught it was good manners.

[Chainfire]

49. I do find it insulting.

Calling an older person honey, darling or sugar is demeaning. They don't call the middle aged men sugar. I know, I used to be a middle aged man.

[Beartracks]

54. I've heard waitresses use "honey" or "hun" a lot, regardless of the customer's age.

Sometimes regardless of the customer's gender, too.

But I've never been called "dearie" or "sugar" (that I recall), so this may not be an apples-to-apples anecdotal observation.

==========

[Trueblue Texan]

56. It's been more than ten years ago...

...and the waitress was older than me. But she called me every kind of sticky sweet thing I ever dreamed of, including "sugar booger". I thought it was kinda gross, given I was eating spinach Alfredo pizza, but I know she meant no harm. Still...haven't been back to that place.

[JI7]

52. Most women who use those terms say it to everyone

[grumpyduck]

5. It would seem to me that these comedians

might be running out of material.

[Tommymac]

21. Nah. The 1% owned sponsors are pushing the producers to undermine President Joe.

Best thing we can do is call them out and turn the offending show off, and find progressive programming to watch instead.

[mahina]

39. And tell them why we're turning it off.

[nolabear]

6. Read Ashton Applewhite and Becca Levy. Great work on ageism.

Levy claims internalized ageism literally takes years off of seniors’ lives. We get inundated with prejudice masked as fact and the belief causes stress, depression and self-neglect.

Applewhite has a great site, www.thischairrocks.com that contains a huge amount of info on discrimination and lots of resources and data. Her Ted Talk is great too.

[mahina]

40. Thank you!

[hlthe2b]

7. 100%. I'd suggest we start here on DU.

It is all too frequent in what is posted.

[LakeArenal]

10. Got that right!!!

My dad lived to 93. His body was frail but his brain was fine. He couldn’t see very well couldn’t hear very well, couldn’t walk very well.

But he was current, aware, funny, helpful and wise. I’d take him for president before any 50 year old Republican.

[PortTack]

12. Nailed it!

[Butterflylady]

27. I remember how some right here on DU were saying

That Biden was too old to be president during the primary season. They weren't going to vote for him for that reason and thought we needed some younger. However, a lot of us said we needed someone with Bidens background and experience. Biden has proved that his age ' is not' a hindrance and he is more than capable of handling the job.

After all 80 is the new 60!

[kentuck]

8. Strom Thurmond was still in the Senate at age 100.

But he was in no way capable of being President.

So, age is a relative condition with everyone.

Not only do elders accumulate wisdom and experience with age, they also accumulate certain conditions of aging, with memory, with energy, with medical problems that can interfere in their lives.

Joe Biden may be the exception and not the rule?

[kimbutgar]

32. And look at Chuck Grassly is going to re-elected at 88 years old

His brain is not all there as he has given up being honest.

[milestogo]

9. Its a cheap shot and someone always takes it.

[gulliver]

11. Judging people by their identity-space coordinates is a foolish, often rotten thing to do

We all need to be able to laugh at ourselves, even if the basis of the laugh is stupidity on the part of others.

[Big Blue Marble]

13. Thank you for posting on Ageism.

It is far too common and unchallenged in our society, even here. I say it is the last ism
that people express without pushback or condemnation.

[Retrograde]

15. We have a Democratic candidate on the ballot this fall

for Congress, who's main beef with his opponent (also a Democrat) is that she's old and has been in office too long. True, she is in her 70s, and has held the seat since the 90s, and she's not an attention grabber like some Republicans I can name, but she generally votes the way I tell her to, and I get a response every time I contact her. Now, I think she should be grooming a replacement, but I'm voting for her over some Bernie Bro who's vague on what he wants to do and how he'll do it. (Medicare for all? Good luck in a GOP-run Congress)

[SheltieLover]

16. Of course it's real!

And not just for those over 70!

Ever try getting a job in your 50s?

Wise cultures revere their elders for their life experience.

[pandr32]

17. Mental, emotional, and physical fitness varies across all age groups.

I have known some very attuned elder people who would blow past much younger ones with their mental capabilities and expertise. My great grandmother, my grandfather, and Queen Elizabeth II are all examples for me--all dead now. There was no way you could have pulled anything over on any of them. Physically, my Dad worked like a dog right up until his death. He could go all day.
On the other side I can think of quite a few examples of much younger people who are neither sharp nor fit.

[plimsoll]

18. Not to dampen everyone's spirits but, older people do it to youngsters as well.

I find myself doing it. "Well when I was....." I don't enjoy getting an agist comment back, but if I look at it honestly I tried to play the age card. What we forget is that experience may have been rendered irrelevant in the current environment, it may be very cool that you know how to tune a Zenith-Stromberg downdraft carburetor, but the only place you'll get to use it is on a classic car from the '60s.

We (young and old) need to be aware that each cohort has it's strengths and weaknesses. Perpetually blaming X on one generation ignores the fact that possibly the majority of people in that cohort worked against X. Bad decisions are not necessarily open to amendment by a majority.

[Deep State Witch]

19. SNL Cold Open Last Night

Made me cringe. I get that they have to parody the President. Every President gets parodied on SNL. It's part of the program. But the ageist thing really made me cringe.

[PatSeg]

23. Yeah, I can't count how many times

I have cringed over the bumbling, old man jokes. They are just feeding the narrative that the right uses against Biden. There are plenty of legitimate things to make fun of and no president gets a pass, but the ageism crap has to stop.

I have been so disappointed in Stephen Colbert. Of all people, I expected him to do better. I don't mind the aviator glasses and "Hey Jack", but not the ageism jokes.

Surprisingly however, it is Bill Maher who has come down on people for their ageism attitudes toward our president. He criticized young people for opposing Biden based on age and said for an old guy he's accomplished more progressive change than most presidents, even Obama. I'm paraphrasing here, but he was surprisingly very supportive of Biden finally after all these years. It wasn't just the marijuana pardons either. He said similar things the week before.

I had become so frustrated with Maher and quit watching him for awhile, but I went back, hoping he'd finally see what is actually happening. He still pisses me off, but he does seem to appreciate Biden at last. Also he's getting older and I think HE is getting more sensitive about ageism.

[OnlinePoker]

20. Trumpers say Biden is too old

When you hear this, remind them that, if Trump runs in 2024, he will be 5 months OLDER than Joe was in 2020.

[PatSeg]

26. And then remind them

that Biden has accomplished more in a year and half than any president for decades. Not bad for an old guy. In his case, experience really makes a huge difference.

[Polybius]

38. I remember when it was done to 73 year old Bob Dole in 1996

I hated that then, and I hated when it was done to Biden in 2020. However, I when it was done to Strom Thurmond during the 1886 SC Senate race, it was justified. A 94 year old has no business running for re-election, and it showed.

[William769]

25. K&R.

[peppertree]

28. And the best part is, Cheeto is almost the same age - and looks like a human garbage bag besides

But you rarely hear the media question his age - much less, Repug talking heads.

The Unideh Shaysh deserves better.

[bluboid]

29. attacks on Biden due to ageism are TRULY IGNORANT...

in view of the FACT that they are barreling down the very same road & will someday KNOW exactly what it's like - if they're lucky enuf to make it that far - grow up!

thank you mysteryowl for standing up to the bs.

[mcar]

30. This +1000!

[Polybius]

33. I agree to a point

But what if someone were older? What if Sen. Chuck Grassley were to get the Republican nomination in 2024, when he'll be 90? Would it be wrong to say that he's too old?

[paleotn]

42. There is a point of being too old, just like there's a point at which someone is too young

Depends on the person. Some people never reach a point where I trust them with the levers of power. Biden isn't one of those and isn't too old. Though I love the guy, Pat Leahy knows when it's time to leave it to the youngsters like Biden.

[paleotn]

35. Yes, we do behave differently than 20 and 30ishers. ...

It's called experience. For guys like Biden, it's his strength. He's seen it all. And yes, history closely rhymes. It's why in most cultures throughout history, the elders ran things or at least had final say. Otherwise is to repeat the same stupid mistakes over and over again.

[bluboid]

45. you are exactly right - it's his STRENGTH! great insight!

[Kali]

37. meh

comedians that make fun of people don't bother me, especially if the people they make fun of are not oppressed. old white guys in power can handle it.

[Cozmo]

41. Making fun of Biden because of his age just show how desperate comedians and media are

to find something wrong with his presidency. Anyone can be young, it doesn't take much talent. It's how you have used your life to grow into the person that you are that takes great skill.

[Demsrule86]

43. It also bleeds into employers attitudes about hiring old workers.

[Buckeyeblue]

50. Not everyone above the age of 70 has wisdom

A small minority do. I think far more resent the fact that the world is a different place than what they grew up and were young adults in. They were probably never curious people and didn't continue to learn as they got older.

Some have always been curious. And as the get into their 70s and 80s continue to be so. They understand causality. The appreciate new ideas and new ways.

[Act_of_Reparation]

51. "Elders have accumulated wisdom & experience and have a lot to pass onto everyone."

That's ageist against young people.

[Sympthsical]

53. Does this apply to younger people or nah?

Because mention young voters, for example, and it's off to the races.

Respect is earned by deeds - not by default. Age does not automatically accumulate intelligence and wisdom. Some people never learn no matter how many times life attempts to teach them differently. I could simply note the demographics of your average Republican voter and rest my case right then and there.

One cannot assume a status for oneself. Sometimes it can only be conferred by others.

[summer_in_TX]

55. Combine gray hair with an innate politeness and quite a few immediately write off

the possibility of wisdom, knowledge, and skills.

The automaticity of the discounting is clearly prejudice. But I wouldn't automatically assume any of those traits.