Old people

This is shear curiosity . . .

How do the "old" discriminate against youth in the US? I see snide remarks about grey-hairs and doddering old folks in all the travel forums but I’ve not seen the reverse.

It appears to be easier to get a job if you are younger than if you are older so there’s no youth discrimination there. There is the almost universal assumption that if you are over 60, you are losing your marbles and are physically over the hill.

Where’s the youth discrimination? I think I’m missing something.

They cut education spending, won’t hire younger workers, support restrictions on youth’s access to media while ignoring the sex and violence displayed in the Bible.

They support politicians who cut access to student loans and some are even trying to raise the minimum age for drivers licenses. Americans are insane.

The discrimination isn’t overtly on the street. It’s in the workplace and in the political arena. While it’s true that the legal age to vote is 18 and while it’s also true that far too few of these cats vote, there is a double-standard in our country regarding experience and how to get it. "Must be at least 23 with at least three years experience in the field."

How does one get three years experience in the field when they aren’t given the chance in the first place?

For the record, I do not take offense. I hope you take no offense toward my answer because none is intended.

Also, Americans don’t do much for their children. They leave them in the hands of babysitters and after school programs who could really care less about their kids.

Americans give their kids plenty of material possessions out of guilt (X-Box), but it doesn’t make up for any love or guidance which is lacking.

You wrote: "They cut education spending, won’t hire younger workers, support restrictions on youth’s access to media while ignoring the sex and violence displayed in the Bible.

They support politicians who cut access to student loans and some are even trying to raise the minimum age for drivers licenses."

To say that "older people" did all this is begging the question. The elected representatives of all the people made these decisions. If young people won’t use the vote that was fought for decades ago, there isn’t much to be done. As long as the seniors vote, they control Congress. There are many older Americans who are extremely upset by the cut in education spending, especially the teachers of the country. Ditto for college loans.

They may not anxiously hire younger workers, but they certainly don’t want to hire "older" workers either. If a seniors need a job, they have to take jobs as greeters at WalMart to buy their medications and eat.

There has also been a strong move in recent years to set a driver’s license age limit at the upper level as well as the lower level. You probably didn’t notice that because you were only looking for youth discrimination. There is age-ism or senior discrimination too.

As far as youth access to the media, I think the concern is of parents for their children so they don’t grow up with obscenity, violence and pornography. This is not a Congressional problem; it’s a parental problem and teens need to discuss it with their parents, not blame everyone over the age of . . . hm, what age? 50, 60, 70 . . . what do you consider old?

I think people of all ages face some kind of discrimination. There is discrimination of the rich against the poor and that seems to be a driving force in this country, especially the politicians.

The solution is not to scream "discrimination" but to find out who is discriminating and why they do it or why they are allowed to do it and then try to take some action.

BTW, do you vote?

I have voted in EVERY election since I was 18-years-old. I voted for Michael Dukakis in 1988, worked on BOTH of President Clinton’s campaigns, as well as President Gore and President Kerry (wink, wink).

There SHOULD be driver license restrictions on the elderly because THEY KILL PEOPLE. Did you hear about the 84-year-old geezer who mixed the gas with the brake and killed ten people as he drove through a farmer’s market in Santa Monica?

Old people are a danger to our society. Not the infirmed. They cannot help their conditions. They are made invalid through enironment, illness and lack of access to hospitalization, as the U.S. is the only major power with no real health care system to speak of.

What I hope you understand is that when those who are now elderly were younger, they voted for people who cut education and the like. Now that they are older, they want to be taken care of by the same group of people they neglected.

They can’t have it both ways.

If old people want to be respected, they must be respectable. I think we can all agree on that. When you take care of the young by making sure they are adequately educated, housed and the like, they, in turn, will take care of you. If not, they won’t.

ENVIRONMENT. Sorry for the type-o.

Yes, I heard about the 84-year-old who ploughed into the Farmers Market in Santa Monica. I’m from LA.

It made the news because it was so unusual. How about the teens who kill people? Old people are much more likely to BE killed than to kill anyone. Teens cause a huge percentage of accidents and deaths compared to the number of teen drivers. I suspect speed has a bit to do with it . . . Drugs and alcohol probably don’t help much and neither does lack of driving experience.

I’m not sure why the old are being blamed for any particular political position. Since there are more young people than old people, it would seem more logical to blame them for the lousy politics.

Who do you think BUILT the schools and supported the schools? Old people have payed a lot more taxes over their lives than you or I have.

Furthermore, you can’t educate someone who doesn’t want to be educated. If kids won’t go to school and won’t do homework and won’t pay attention in class, old people cannot educate them. The kids who attend and work hard get a good education. I’ve been in school; I know what goes on there. When kids can’t get an education, it’s usually because the other kids in the class are causing so much trouble that no one can learn anything. That can’t be blamed on old people.

My mother voted for the same people you voted for . . . and it didn’t do her any good either. My parents generation fought in several wars to insure you had the right to vote at all. My parents were very supportive of young people. My mother was a teacher who spent nights and weekends helping young people and getting paid darn little for it. My father owned a factory and he hired young people and paid them a fair wage. They both also respected and took care of their parents and their children and it wasn’t always easy.

If you think all old people are Republicans who support the oil cartel, you don’t know very many old people. There are plenty of old people who are liberals, many far more liberal than I.

You can’t blame the ills of society on any particular segment of the population. We all share in the blame and we all have the responsibility to respect each other and to try to remedy our societal problems. When you start blaming others, you abrogate your own responsibility. That is counterproductive. We are all responsible. We shouldn’t be blaming each other; we should be helping and supporting each other.

While it’s true that we should be helping each other, we can’t do that when older Americans are voting to cut education spending in favor of defense spending. I do my best to get the young people out to vote. I first voted for Michael Dukakis in 1988 because I knew what a disaster George HW Bush was going to be. I KNEW he was going to put us into a war.

What’s more, we should stop sympathizing with the aged and let them live out their karma. Since they don’t want to fund public education, we should not fund their Social Security.

The reason why young people are irresponsible is because they were never taught how to be responsible in the first place. The parents of today (Gen X’ers) aren’t completely to blame because they weren’t taught anything either. The baby boomers were too interested in their careers and Vegas trips to care. How ironic that they are now having to raise their grandchildren.

Poetic justice, I suppose.

As for the kids who kill people with their cars, I blame THAT on those who support tearing down racetracks and putting other developments in their place. Remember Riverside and Ontario in California? Remember Los Angeles Raceway and the dragstrip in San Fernando?

Look, people should do their business during daylight hours and let the kids race their cars when it’s dark. If one can’t support keeping the racetrack open, don’t come crying to me about someone who got squashed by a 19-year-old doing 80 in a 45 zone because kids are going to race their cars.

My solution to the problem is that cities should buy parcels of land and build tracks for kids to race at. They should charge admission and put that money back into the City.

But, that makes too much sense and the old people don’t want to hear the sound of roaring engines-assuming they can even hear at all.

More young and middle aged people vote against education spending than old people.

Obviously you have a serious prejudice and I’m not going to change your mind. I’m not sure I’ve met anyone so bitter. Do remember that you are going to be old someday. It happens to most of us.

I’m sorry you are so unhappy but I’m not going to argue further. It is obviously pointless. You’ve made up your mind.

I’m sure you’ll change it when you’re old but that’s a ways down the road of life.

Peace . . .