I've been noticing a lot of elder bashing lately.

[graywarrior]

Not just here, but all over the media. Once you pass 50, it seems, you become invisible or DESPISED because you look old. WTF? Seems like the baby boomers are becoming a joke because they're balding or have wrinkles. Forget that the 60's folks made music that influences every single goddamn thing on the planet today. How soon we forget.

:rant:

[RebelOne]

1. Well, there are a lot of under 20-something-year-olds here.

And they think that anyone over the age of 30 is ancient.

[BikeWriter]

2. WTF? Let me at them! Who was bashing us?

:wtf:

[RebelOne]

3. There was a Bridgette Bardot bashing thread.

She is 72. Some were saying how old she looks. She looks pretty damn good for 72 years old.

[Misunderestimator]

8. That's misleading... It was more about bashing her bigotry.

[hobo_baggins]

11. well the original thread was bashing her looks, not her bigotry

but then again, im a sexist pig...so what do i know

[LiviaOlivia]

12. And I've seen people get banned

for such things. Oh the good old days. But you are right.

Movie stars are human and get old too. Let's shit on them. Old is ugly.

[Misunderestimator]

19. No, I know the original poster, and the OP was bashing her in general.

And if you read the thread you would understand that.

[cactusrose]

30. So many seniors tend to be liberals

and refuse to worship Bush. On the contrary, they're openly criticizing him. And not just on things affecting seniors.

Remember the way the far-righters tried to smearboat AARP? Took out ads showing a picture of a soldier with a X through it and a picture of two men kissing with a check mark, and claimed this was AARP's position. It's not AARP's position, but a majority of the posters on the AARP boards think gays and lesbians should have the same rights as other Americans.

A majority of those posters also think that the US should never have invaded Iraq, should get out, and that Bush is an all around doofus (to put it mildly).

The far-right has long hated AARP and has targeted the AARP message boards for takeover. They've finally got some far-righters in as moderators, and they are trying to clean the board of "liberals". (I put "liberals" in quotes because to a far-righter anyone who doesn't agree with Bush 100% all of the time is a "liberal".) These winger moderators are moderating and even censoring the posts of "liberals" that in no way violate TOS and then kicking the posters off. Blatant violations of TOS by wingers are ignored. Sometimes when non-wingers complain about the violations by wingers (including the name-calling) the non-wingers' posts are moderated and censored instead. Sometimes they accuse the non-wingers who complain of being out for revenge.

What has a lot of people concerned is that these moderators may not be hired by AARP. A message board company named Prospero runs the AARP message boards. As part of its package, Prospero offers moderating services for clients who want this. Most of the moderation emails have a Prospero origin instead of an AARP origin. Though the originator tries to hide this. These emails claim to be from [e-mail], but when one gets a full header on them, a Prospero address is revealed.

So why be concerned about this? Because Prospero controls a significant segment of the message board market. In addition to AARP, it handles the AOL boards, New York Times Digital, NASCAR, and quite a few others. You can get a partial list of their clients off the Prospero website.

A company that controls a large segment of the Internet market and provides moderation services is in a position to dictate what a lot of people are allowed to see and say in cyberspace.

BTW, if you go to Prospero's presskit page, you learn that president and CEO Dan Bruns used to work directly with Rupert Murdock. This by itself doesn't mean anything, but it is something that needs to be kept in mind.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rustydog]

5. I just had a back-handed compliment at work

Let me start by saying I'll be 52 in May.

I started my new security position at this hospital last march.
People are nice, the pay is good and I'm getting used to the Seattle area rain.

Last month I responded to an incident in the ER and handled it like I've done hundreds of times since 1979 in my prior place of employment. nothing big, nothing to brag about.
(I need to say this is the slowest, most affluent ER I've ever been into and have not seen one trauma since I,ve come here)

A week after the incident, my supervisor told me he keeps hearing the talk around the ER about how awesome I was handling the mental with a knife.
He said the Department had voiced concens when I was hired because I was old (his words)and gray haired, but now they think I rock.

When in the fuck did I get old?
Was I offended ? You bet your ass! Did I tell him I was offended? You bet your ass!

[evlbstrd]

6. Boomer bashing has been popular for decades.

Can't really explain it.

[skygazer]

7. I find it depressing

Time was, we honored our elders and looked at them as people who had lived long and had experiences that were valuable. Now the big push is to keep one's youth and anyone who looks their real age is seen as some sort of loser.

We complain about those who use plastic surgery and ridicule them or those who use Botox but at the same time, we denigrate people who have aged and who show it. Makes no sense.

I don't care about the gray by my temples or the wrinkles around my eyes. I'm 45 years old and I have the good sense to prove it.

[pitohui]

35. you just can't win

if you get cosmetic surgery, then you are vain and silly and plastic

if you don't, you are a dirty old fool who has let himself or herself go

this society hates the middle-aged and the old, no two ways abt it

even britney spears is now scorned as old, fat, and over the hill, what is she? not even 25?

[Arkansas Granny]

54. Here's my theory about age, gray hair and wrinkles. It's very

important to not lie about your age. I would much rather people tell me I look good for 60 than to have them say "Damn, she looks rough for being 45". And as far as my gray hair and my wrinkles, I've earned every one of them and had a good time doing it.

It's mind over matter: if you don't mind, it don't matter. I'm looking forward to the day when I'm old enough to be considered eccentric instead of slightly wierd.

[pitohui]

60. i strongly disagree w. that theory

I would much rather people tell me I look good for 60 than to have them say "Damn, she looks rough for being 45". And as far as my gray hair and my wrinkles, I've earned every one of them and had a good time doing it.



older people are targets, it's actually better to look like a rough and potentially a little bit dangerous 45 than a nice old granny who looks good for 60

i don't feel i ever did anything to deserve having "earned" gray hair and wrinkles, that's just a whacky concept to me, i'm a good person, i do good things, i have no reason to say i have earned ugly marks that i'm getting closer to the end of the line

the trouble is, if you love life, you want to live, and you don't want ugly reminders that you are another day closer to dying

that is why if we're honest to our guts, then we find wrinkles and gray hair disturbing, they are marks of mortality and who the hell needs that

the clock is ticking loud enough w./out pretending there's anything morally terrific abt being too unmotivated to fight back


I'm looking forward to the day when I'm old enough to be considered eccentric instead of slightly wierd.

being considered "eccentric" rather than "weird" is an economic distinction, if you're rich enough, you're eccentric, an old weirdo w. no money is not respected as eccentric but dismissed as losing his marbles

abt 15 yrs ago they actually did a survey of this in great britain -- if you're broke, you're weird, odd, senile etc. but if you're rich you're eccentric

nothing to do w. aging

we live in a superficial society and i prefer to give myself what small advantages i can rather than just throwing up my hands and giving up

besides it is just disrespectful to my partner to let myself go when we have the technology to do something about it


gray hair is the cheapest fix there is, no one has to have gray hair, that is just plain giving up and, by god, i am not just going to give up that easily

rage, rage, against the dying of the light and all that!

[Arkansas Granny]

68. I think that you and I are looking at this from different ends of the

spectrum.

"if you love life, you want to live, and you don't want ugly reminders that you are another day closer to dying"

I don't see ugly reminders there, I see a natural process that just happens if you live long enough. So, I guess just by living to this age I have "earned" those physical signs of age. There have been some bad things happen in my life and I've definitely made some errors in judgment, but over all, I've enjoyed my life so far and I intend to enjoy the rest of it.

I'm certainly not just throwing up my hands and giving up. I am in good health, stay active and if someone doesn't like my appearance, they just don't have to look at me. So far, no one has thrown their hands over their face and run away screaming. My gray hair and wrinkles just don't bother me enough to do something about them for someone else's benefit.

Edited to add: As far as the eccentric vs. wierd debate, I fear I will never have enough money to be considered eccentric. Looks like I'm doomed to the wierd category. Oh well.

:shrug:

[graywarrior]

9. Freaking kids these days know shit about shine-ola.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

21. Hey, now, we're not all bad.

:hi:

[graywarrior]

32. I know.

Sometimes my not saggy ass gets in a snit.

[JitterbugPerfume]

10. I had to call my bank yesterday about a problem

with my direct deposit

by the time I hung up I was furious. That girl talked to me like i was six years old---so KIND ,so condescending.



by the way I am 65, and contrary to common knowledge we elders do not appreciate being called DEAR and HON and alla that shit

[xmas74]

39. Sorry about that.

If it makes you feel better, I call everyone Hon,Sweetie and Dear-age is not a factor.

[Burma Jones]

13. And those damn kids make too much damn noise

at the damn bowling alley, with their piercings and Hep Hoppy Music, I tells ya, the kids today, they don't appreciate a damn thing, they just play their Goddamn Video Games - no Pong isn't good enough - and nobody's ever been funnier than John Belushi Goddammit and what the hell do you know about beauty, Angelina Jolie ain't got nuthin on Twiggy dammit, and the crappy weed we had was still better than this DANGEROUS hyper resinated weed the kids all got these days, all they say is Pimp my Ride and Check out my Crib and who the hell ever told them that scratching an LP is music frochrissakes - you have to respect the vinyl you weasels and the SAT is a hell of a lot easier than it used to be and these stupid kids haven't had to fight for a goddamn thing in tyhepir lives, and I don't give a flying fuck if MY generation was the one that put Reagan into office and I have no frigging idea what the hell their tattoos mean and the Beatles are better than God and everything that was created by anyone born after 1960 is a pile of self absorbed shit UNLESS it doesn't make any money because we all know that the Beatles and the Grateful Dead are the only rich AND honest musicians that ever existed and what the hell happened to black people singing MELODIES dammit and WE didn;t give a shit if you had a goddamn Prada bag YOU would be a hell of a lot more appreciative if you had been around when JFK was assassinated because HE was a GOD and every Democrat we've had since then was a pale imitation WE KILLED NIXON and Kent State who the hell among you had to die to protest and if you don't know who Neal Cassidy was you are a piece of crap too and where's MY goddamn pension gone off to and Disco was the best dance music ever and Bart Starr was a way better role model than that damn Pretty Boy Tom Brady and does ANYBODY use Geritol anymore.....

[Redstone]

26. Hey, you forgot the part about walking 18 miles to school every day

in the snow, and we're talking about REAL snow here, not this piddly excuse where they close the schools for only a foot or two these days, carrying your sister on your back because it was your turn to wear the pair of shoes you shared with her, and having to stop on the way to catch a squirrel so you'd have something for lunch, catching it with your hands because you couldn't afford a slingshot...

Redstone

[Dan-W]

29. Hey, don't be dissin' Tom Brady!

[Burma Jones]

31. Harumph..............n/t

[NMMNG]

14. If I recall correctly,

It was the youth of the 60's who stated, "Don't trust anybody over 30".

And elder bashing is not a really new trend, it's been around for quite some time (not that that excuses it in any way). Joking about balding men or crotchety old women has been going on for many a year--I recall it from my childhood. And then there are the millions of ads claiming (for women mainly) that you need to use "Serum X" or "Cream Y" to avoid the dreaded wrinkles because if you let yourself look old everything is lost. If you're wealthy enough you are encouraged to get surgery to address your wrinkles and sagging jowls so as not to let anyone think you are actually aging.

So it's not the baby boomers that are being targeted specifically. Older people have been targets for decades.

[Wetzelbill]

15. Once the oldsters hit 30 they should be thrown out in the wilderness

to fend for themselves.

Wait.... I'm 31.

Old people rule!

You know, I can't wait to get old. I have dreamed all my life of the day I can be old and grouchy. I want to start every story with " When I was your age..." or "Back in my day....". I'm going to be such a prick. Well, I am one already, but an even bigger one.

[BrotherBuzz]

16. Once the oldsters hit 30 they should be thrown out ...

of their parents basement. Time to fend for themselves!

I got a leg up on you in the 'old and grouchy' department because my son has friends with grandparents younger than both his parents....

[Wetzelbill]

17. hahaha

omg, they must have been having kids when they were barely teens. :)

[BrotherBuzz]

18. LOL, no, we had a child a decade after we were thrown out of the basement

Fun practicing, but it was a long hard learning curve until we figured it out. ;)

[enigmatic]

34. I'm doing that to my staff at the hotel

Most of them are in their early 20's; I'm starting to sound like Grandpa Simpson..

[wain]

20. Wait 'til we get older and more of us live longer

Then they'll be paying more for our health and SSN.

Why should they owe us anything?

:dilemma:

[LaurenG]

22. All I can say is they WILL miss us when were gone

Just like we miss responsible older people who have since passed on. When they all get older they will see how it feels. However, we can make them all miserable for a little longer by NOT retiring and running for all the offices available. :rofl:



btw, I think that thread was started because bb pissed off the op for being a gay basher. I didn't take offense. I'll start a 50 and older pic thread this weekend. Get ready gray brigade we will knock their socks off (or maybe just halfway off)

[SoCalDem]

23. It's all part of the plan to make boomers appear greedy and

undeserving of benefits as we age.. If the youngers feel free to bash us, it'll be easier to get them to vote for cuts on our benefits.. :(

[johnnie]

24. Lately?

"Elder bashing" has been around since I was a kid..lol.

I never thought I would become an old fart 40+ year old. It's really no different than saying something like, "these young kids today don't know that it was the 60s music that influenced everything on earth".

:hi:

[Orsino]

25. Don't trust anyone over x...

...where x is ten years older than your own age. :)

Historically, though, no one likes to have to face his own mortality, and in an age of instant electronic communication, we are probably censoring those constant reminders that are other people's wrinkles. In a capitalist society, one of the few rights we actually try to hold onto is that of not having to look at anything less than pretty. In a technological culture, older citizens are no longer the sole repositories of wisdom, and thereby lose some of their most useful function.

The elderly are guaranteed short shrift in this civilization.

[tjwmason]

27. The cult of youth.

It's very bad i.m.o. - and for the record I'm considerably under 30.

Older folk have frequently learnt the difference between knowledge and wisdom.

That said, I'll pass on the '60s music though.

[Rowdyboy]

28. I'm 52 and look better than I have since I turned 18.....

I spend two hours a day at the gym, have a sexy older man to sleep with, a great old home with a knocked out garden, enough money to live a decent life without busting my ass, and call no man or woman "boss".

And if young twerps wanna diss me, have at it! Been there, done that, wouldn't go back to my 20's if you paid me.

And to answer our young critics, I'll say what I usually say to that age group: "Yes, I would like fries with my order".

Life only gets started good when you turn 40.

[graywarrior]

33. I almost offed myself when I was in my 20's

Now I know why.

[CBHagman]

36. Did you catch the op-ed piece in the Washington Post..

...Outlook section a week or two back? I forget the name of the author, but he has written a book about the positive contributions of the baby boom generation.

The Post has frequently done a great deal of boomer bashing, but is since making up for it somewhat by offering a "things we've learned" feature in the Health section on Tuesdays, plus Abigail Trafford's terrific My Time column.

Anyway, you're among friends here (I'm a boomer, born in 1958). There is no virtue or character flaw in being born a particular year.

:hug:

On edit: And I'm becoming downright militant about experienced workers. For example, one of my co-workers, in her 50s and without a college degree, is much better at editing and proofreading than freshly graduated 20-somethings. You can take that to the bank.

[AngryAmish]

37. Demographics

Baby Boomers are the largest generation. Thus what they want becomes what is popular. They wanted Bush, they got Bush.

Have you noticed that the Medicaid drug benefit only got passed when the Baby Boomer generation got close to needing it? Yup, one more thing we have to pay for. The national debt got spent by the Boomers. Now us younger folks get to pay for it.

Social Security must be dealt with. It is going to hold for a while (2015 I think, but could be later). However taxes will have to be raised to pay for it or benefits will be cut. Since the Boomers are the largest generation it will be impossible for any politician of any party to vote to cut benefits, so taxes will go up. Period.

SS pays out what the person puts in for 4.5 years or so. After that the person is being paid with other peoples money. Well, if someone retires at 65 (will be 67 soon) and life expectancy is 77, that means 7 years of living off of other peoples money.

Public college education was cheap for Boomers, now tuition is way up because Boomer tax payers don't want to pay their fair share.

Please don't take this personally but the evidence is clear that the Boomers are the worst generation.

[graywarrior]

40. Sorry, I do take it personally

Everyone wants to blame someone else for their misery. No one listens. Everyone has a grudge. Go ahead, blame the boomers for Bush. Forget that he was court appointed.

You have no idea what we're thinking as we sit here watching the future generation get sucked into the Hummer's, the iPod's, the Jessica Simpson's, and the desperate attempts of white kids trying to be black. Pitiful, really. Tthey have no ideas of their own. They think everything they do is a new thought. On top of that, they're all get cosmetic surgery for high school graduation gifts. Can't wait to see what they look like at 25. Twenty somethings wearing the death grimace, faces as tight as a drum and just as flat. Meditate? WTF is that?

[AngryAmish]

43. What do you think your folks thought

when you folks were buying muscle cars, the hi-fi stereos, Jane Fonda, the desperate attempts of white kids to be black by listening to rock and/or roll. Your generation had no thoughts of their own. Sorry, that kinda sounds like you are complaining about the younger generation like older folks always have. Pretty soon I'll hear that the youth are gobbling their food.

BTW, I'm not younger, I'm middle aged.

[OKNancy]

45. Let's blame men not boomers

Male Bush 55% Female 48%


http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html

As far as college tuition is concerned...who do you think is paying for that tuition now?
Boomer parents.

Boomers changed this country for the good and you should appreciate it.

[HuckleB]

38. Yeah, sure, you betcha.

As opposed to the incessant boomer backslapping that everyone on the planet has lived with ad nauseum since the '60s?

LOL!

[tjwash]

41. Give it a rest. We were the same way when we were in our 20's...

...as will be the next generation that follows the next, that follows the next. That time of the blissful ignorance of youth is so damn short, the least we can do is enjoy how little they actually really know about anything, and let them enjoy it as well. One day, they are all going to wake up, and mutter words those famous words that mean you have finally arrived to old age: "kids today..."

Despite our differences though, all generations to tend to have one thing in common; the unerring penchant for thinking our shit doesn't stink.

[graywarrior]

44. Sorry. Not in the mood for a rational lecture.

Come back as a 55 year old female in your next life and see what it's like to suddenly become despised because you either have cosmetic surgery or you don't have cosmetic surgery.

[tjwash]

48. So you're pissed off at fashion magazines and Hollywood...

...and taking it out on everyone that's under the age of thirty?

Listen, I'm considered old as shit and have adult kids and grandkids. I also don't care one little bit about some ideal look, or this thought that we all have to look young forever, or what anyone else even thinks about me, because they have allowed themselves to be spoon fed this consumer-culture-garbage that we as a society have somehow evolved into.

I'm sorry you feel "despised" because you are over 55, and a female, but it is what it is. Making yourself feel despised, and taking it out on other people, is just not fair. If something that's gnawing within you right now, that is making you sensitive to this "either have cosmetic surgery or you don't have cosmetic surgery" thing that is bugging you, well, maybe you need to look at that.

Ah, screw it. I'm going home.

[graywarrior]

49. Didn't say that. How dumb do you have to be to argue with an

idiot like me. Hey, I still turn heads, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't piss me off when I see older women treated like they don't exist because they have a few wrinkles. It ain't my fault the me generation spawned itself into a new crop of youth/beauty addicted, self centered little monsters.

[MiniMandaRuth]

42. Stupid kids....

Older people are some of the greatest to talk to.

[graywarrior]

46. Yeah, who'd you rather talk to, Dylan or Jessica Simpson?

[leftofthedial]

47. listen you old fart . . .

I've noticed age discrimination in hiring since I got near 50.

I don't look my age (according to others), but man, they figure out my approximate age from my resume and I'm screwed.

[graywarrior]

50. Hey, I have a bit of elderly bashing syndrome myself.

There's nothing worse than living in a city that fills up with retired people who have a control issue. No one is immune to it. I'd like to wipe a few of em off the face of the planet myself. I'm just pointing out that it exists and you don't get it til you reach your 50's. I remember what an asshole I was to older people.

[Kat45]

51. Same here, even though I took graduation years off my resume

They still figure it out from the length of time jobs go back. Unfortunately, I just got laid off and am back in the job market again, one year older.

[leftofthedial]

53. In over 250 job applications, I have not received a single interview

my qualifications are excellent, my track record is actually pretty distinguished

I'm now in a situation in which I need less salary

I'm at the end of my rope. I can't get hired to frigging sweep floors part time.

[Kat45]

55. Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that.

And I hope that's not what I have to look forward to as well. Being a single person, my income is it.

[graywarrior]

56. I think it's harder for older men to get jobs than older women

But it all depends on the types of jobs you're looking for. The only reason I have my job is because I volunteered for a few months with a non-profit doing what I love and within my skills. I got to create my on job with a decent hourly rate. Because part of my job is to fundraise, I can look forward to more money in the future.

Maybe volunteer at a company you'd like to work at. Most times, after they see what you can do and get to know you, they will hire you.

[leftofthedial]

57. Interesting. I started a nonprofit

I'm Executive Director, but it won't pay enough to keep me afloat long enough to get to the point where it's an actual job.

Thanks for the advice.

[graywarrior]

59. Hey, that's my specialty-helping non-profits with no money

Where are you located? Maybe I can help.

[leftofthedial]

61. Colorado

nonprofits with no money? isn't that redundant?

[graywarrior]

62. More than redundant...it's normal.

Tell me what you need. PM me. I may be able to help.

[CBHagman]

66. There are organizations for over-50 employees.

I recall reading about agencies and the like which focus on the 50-plus worker. Unfortunately, I can't recall the exact titles of the organizations.

But it's time to get systems in place that will address the talent pool over 50. I've learned from extremely bitter experience that many young workers simply have nowhere near the skills to perform certain jobs.

[graywarrior]

67. Yes, I vaguely remember hearing about that.

[CBHagman]

69. Links to consider

I have not tested these myself, but maybe you can use them as a jumping-off point.

http://www.ncoa.org

AARP's featured employers program

http://www.aarp.org/money/careers/findingajob/featuredemployers/info.html

http://seniorliving.about.com/od/workandcareers/a/seniorjobbank.htm

http://www.seniorjobbank.org/

http://www.seniorjobsearch.com/

[leftofthedial]

70. thank you!

I'm pretty much discouraged to the frigging bone

these links will help!

[we can do it]

52. Not Me I Like Oldies, Lots of spunk and Wisdom

[Benfea]

58. I don't hate you because you're old

I hate you because you're mean to ducks and because the message in my fortune cookie said I should.

[tigereye]

63. well our money still seems to have a fair amount of power

I think a lot of boomers also run many large and powerful organizations. So I don't think we are out of it all yet.


If it's any consolation, those obsessed with "youth" will all look "old" one day as well. It's just the nature of things. :)

[realisticphish]

64. well, you DO realize

that our generation isn't obsessed with youth. We ARE youth. It's YOUR generation that's going that way

[tigereye]

65. yes but no one will be young forever -

usually youth doesn't really think about itself... it just is. I never felt glad or superior about being in my 20s or 30s - I just was in my 20s or 30s. No big deal. It's all a big, weird marketing ploy and a denial of the realities of aging.

[GirlinContempt]

71. I notice a lot of age-ism

In both directions. Yeah.