Have you ever been discriminated against because of your age? Even if you haven't, you almost certainly will be. In North America, people are living longer and the fastest growing segment of the population is made up of people over the age of sixty-five. For the first time in their lives, these people are encountering biases of which they were previously unaware and which they once unconsciously held themselves. I'm referring to biases against the old.
Even our attitudes toward death are colored by this thinking. When someone dies duriing his twenties, people say, "How tragic that he died so young." When someone in her eighties dies, the same people say, "Well, it's really for the best. After all, she had a full life didn't she?" It never occurs to them that the old person might have wanted to go on living just as much as the younger one did. We seem to think that everyone is entitled to a certain ration of years and that anybody who manages to live longer is cheating somehow.
Old people today are healthier and more active than ever before, but you'd never know it from television commercials or magazine ads. The advertisements pitched at young people offer sleek cars, flashy clothes and dating services. The ads aimed at older folks are still mostly about prescription drugs and denture creams. Real old people may be out dancing or playing tennis, but advertisers still see them sitting in their rocking chairs and waiting for death.
Some years ago, my mother was visiting when she fell on the stairs. She couldn't stand afterwards and thought that she'd broken her right leg. Because Mother was eighty and had osteoporosis, that didn't seem like such a wild idea. I called an ambulance and had her taken to the nearest emergency ward, while my wife and I followed by car.
For four hours, we sat waiting in the ER while my mother lay on a gurney nearby, moaning in pain. I didn't object at first because it was a busy night and the medical staff had to cope with a couple of people who had been seriously hurt in car crashes. After a couple of hours, it seemed that doctors were attending to people who had arrived after we did and who didn't look seriously ill. Finally, the staff took a couple of children who had been brought in just ten minutes earlier. I overheard their parents say that the kids had upset stomachs and a mild fever. This didn't sound like an emergency to me, so I told one of the interns how long we'd been waiting and asked when my mother would get attention. He gave me a terse lecture about how busy they were and implied that I should never quetion the judgement of doctors, but the staff did take Mother in for examination.
X-rays showed that Mother's leg wasn't broken after all, but nobody knew that when we arrived. I don't think the doctors deliberately neglected my mother. As an old person, she was just invisible, especially when there were children around. That's how our brains are wired.
I've experienced age related bias myself. Ten years ago, when I went into a store and asked for service, I had the clerk's undivided attention. Now, my hair is grayer. When I go into a store these days, I have trouble finding anyone to serve me and there have been two occasions when the salesperson has broken off talking with me to go and serve a younger looking customer. Both times, I objected and the clerk was shocked at what he or she had done. The staff wasn't trying to be rude to me. It's just that we all know that older people never want anything important and just make a nuisance of themselves.
None of this is exclusively a North American situation, but there are cultures in Western Europe and in Asia where old people are still more integrated into society than they are here. If you haven't yet reached your "golden years", you can look forward to a healthier and more active old age than your parents ever had. Unfortunately, you can also look forward to being increasingly marginalized and ignored by younger folks who just want you to die and get out of their way.
What do you think? Do old people face biases against them? Will the growing number of Baby Boomers passing sixty-five change Society's attitudes toward old age? I'd like to know your opinion.
George
P.S. Please visit my bookstore at: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=893655
Posted by gjcondon on 2008-04-24 10:24:47 | Rating: n/a | Views: 110
My answer to your question is yes. Absolutely the elder face biases against them and I would even call it discrimination.
Unfortunately, our society has been wired to think that monetary success is the only thing that matters. So when a person is past their "prime", they are deemed useless and of course as you have explained in your blog, this is untrue.
We have so much to learn from older people and I think it's time we start to value their wisdom.
In ancient tribes, the elder were always the most respected and admired. I wonder what changed that ideology.
Thanks for your comment. I think that the idea of respect for the old faded because of two things, more rapid technological change and (ironically) the fact that life expectancy has increased.
In earlier times, technology changed slowly, so the experience of one's parents or grandparents was valued. Today, the old are seen as clinging to outdated ideas and as not being tuned into what is new and cool.
Also, when very few people lived much beyond forty, the old were thought to possess some secrets of longevity that they could pass along to the young. Now that so many people get to be old, being aged is no longer seen as an accomplishment.
I think your explanation makes perfect sense. However, some cultures still have great respect for the old. I come from Central America, from a very traditional place, where the elderly are very respected. It is nothing like what I've experienced in North America.
I wonder to what extent religion plays a role, if any at all. Is tradition associated with religion? I think sometimes it is...Mmm...I wonder.
