It's an insult to older Americans when people excuse racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks

[Yavin4]

made by other older Americans. Hearing the phrase, "well, they're from a generation where it was okay to be [fill in the blank]". That's bullshit pure and simple.


Now,I don't pretend to speak for all older Americans, but from the many that I know, they're NOT homophobic, racist, sexist, etc.

[murielm99]

1. I agree.

And I am not sure that it was okay then. I am 65. My mother taught me not to use derogatory names when referring to various ethnic or racial minorities. If I had done so, she would have washed my mouth out with soap.

So, how much older do you have to be do be allowed to be a racist, etc?

[MineralMan]

2. Age is never an excuse for bigotry.

Bigotry is a voluntary thing, and can be cast aside by anyone of any age.

Age has nothing to do with it, really, and shouldn't excuse any bigotry of any kind.

[Journeyman]

3. Never understood that. The silent assumption is, young people are unbiased and tolerant . . .

but the reality is nasty people come in all ages, colors and persuasions.

Everyone should be judged on the merits of our individual lives. But the standards by which we're measured are consistent no matter who we are.

[Supersedeas]

4. and white privilege and male privilege end with an identifiable generation

[hamsterjill]

7. Right on!

Well said, and very true!

[CBGLuthier]

5. I am guilty of the opposite. When i encounter someone younger than me who is a homophobe,

or a racist or sexist I have to wonder what the fuck is wrong with them. I would hope that anyone younger than me grew up in an enlightened age and would not have these views. Yeah, I can hear everyone laughing.

[Supersedeas]

6. or maybe they just need more time to become more enlightened

[CBGLuthier]

8. Well, since the example I am thinking of is fifty years old, I am not sure he will get there

[AverageJoe90]

9. Very true.

True. there are a good many older folks who truly *aren't* racist, sexist, or homophobic; and at least some of them aren't even prejudiced.

[Skittles]

10. I ABSOLUTELY AGREE

[The Straight Story]

11. Kind of on the fence with that idea

Used another way I see things like 'well, that is why some people are leery of all white folks, cause back in my day they were all racists, etc'.

My way of looking at this is if I encounter older people who use terms many here would find means the person is a raging racist/sexist/psycho and should be judged on those words is that they grew up around the terms and they just stuck. Old phrases I heard many times as a very young boy were things like 'sweating like a ....... on election day' in which the grandparents and such inserted a certain racist word. I still hear that on hot days once in a great while. It's just an old saying, out of place, and doesn't mean someone is sitting around in their rocker sewing eye holes in their klan hood.

Old habits and things ingrained in people die hard. Whether you are white/black/indian/etc. One of those things is ways in which you have communicated/words used. Especially when in private conversations (I hear things in private I know I would never hear in public because people have some social graces and such).

"well, they're from a generation where it was okay to be " can be an insult to some (meaning they are archaic/etc) but a simple understanding of others who grew up in a different place and culture than our own under much different circumstances.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. This is sometimes a problem in nursing homes.

When white people curse the minorities who take care of them.

My step-grandfather punched a black aide in the stomach, back in the 1970s, when he was in a nursing home. He was born in the 1890s and was racist but hid it pretty well. They put him on psychotropic drugs so he wouldn't do that any more.

Or as my retired African-American friend told me, "You're pickin' shit out of their asses and they're calling you a N****r."
That is a direct quote.


My parents and grandmother were Democrats, so it's not all old people. Bigots can be any age. As Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II said in South Pacific, "You've Got to be Carefully taught."

[RebelOne]

13. I am 75-year-old female American.

And I am not homophobic, racist or sexist. I have seen a lot in my 75 years. I lived in the South where blacks were segregated. There were separate bathrooms, drinking fountains, restrooms for blacks and whites, and blacks were not allowed in white restaurants or movie theaters. I have seen it all. And living in Miami, I had many gay and lesbian friends and co-workers. I was a little sexist because when I was young, too many men tried to seduce and take advantage of me, which made me become a feminist.