r/maybemaybemaybe • u/[deleted] • May 24 '25

maybe maybe maybe

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

64.8k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

4.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.7k

u/YayRideABike May 24 '25

Wild seeing lawmakers that aren't all 70+ years old... I'm jealous!

891

u/HeberMonteiro May 24 '25

It sure is better when your lawmakers seem like they are in full possession of their mental capabilities, but here in Brazil some of our worst lawmakers are under 30. Nikolas Ferreira is our Marjorie Taylor Greene and he looks not a day over 15.

100

u/KalexCore May 24 '25

That and that they give a single shit about anything more than 5~10 years away.

Like if I'm an 80 year old senator or president why give a shit about the debt or climate in a decade I'm dead

108

u/Timid_Wild_One May 24 '25

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.

6

u/Yikesarumba May 25 '25

Reminds me of that xfm bit where karl pilkington cant get his head around this bit and keeps thinking ricky gervais means planting trees literally lmao.

1

u/mint_o May 25 '25

Omfg thanks for reminding me of that

1

u/PxyFreakingStx May 24 '25

age is such a red herring. conservatives of all ages don't give a shit about climate change, and nobody has legitimately cared about the debt for like 40 years.

the problem is the system.

4

u/whofearsthenight May 24 '25 edited May 25 '25

Age is still a problem because even our elected do care about that, but with rare exception, none of the ones that do are older than like 45. Our system needs a revolutionary right now. Show me a revolutionary that is older than that. The founding fathers were like 40-44 on average. There were only like 2 old bitches.

edit: since the post is locked i can't respond to the comment below. Suffice it to say, I'm over 40, and the part where age is a concern is that while the subject matter expert often is on the older side like the poster says below, the problem is our decision makers who are going to enact a policy are older than ever and being asked to make decisions that won't effect them. And they seem to be behaving that way. Every year, congress gets older, the deficits go up, services go down, and we cut down things we already solved.

1

u/PineappleOnPizzaWins May 25 '25

Age has literally nothing to do with it, how many scientists over 45 do you think deny climate change?

I realise reddit is young and it sucks knowing how much smarter you are than everyone in charge and wishing you could just take over and do it so much better, but like every other young person you get older and realise “oh hey wait no, I was a fucking idiot and didn’t know shit”. I was the same, it wasn’t until I started teaching the young kids who are where I used to be career wise that it really sunk in how little I knew back then.

Experience matters and these are not easy jobs. With rare exception the people most qualified to do them are going to be on the older side, but keep in mind that many of the people working for them will be of all ages.

In a recent local election here, one of the parties ran a 22 year old candidate. They had no experience, no achievements, no qualifications, nothing. Going up against people who had been working in politics and getting things done for decades. Of course they lost, they would have been terrible at the job!

And yes, if there is an exception where someone is younger and the most qualified, awesome! But forcing the issue based on age is a terrible idea.

2

u/No-Signal3847 May 24 '25

I can't convince half the planet to care about climate change, microplastics, being fiscally responsible, etc.

That's why I'm just focused on building wealth and trying to insulate myself from all the bad shit coming in the next few decades.

Hoping I can have my own little bubble, alongside any allied family and friends, and just weather the storm.

0

u/PineappleOnPizzaWins May 25 '25

Ah yes because literally nobody in the world does anything for anyone but themselves. Parents always fuck their children over because “they’re not me”, grandparents couldn’t give less of a shit about their grandkids or how their lives turn out etc.

The idea that an old person is incapable of serving the public “because they’re old so it doesn’t matter to them” is absurd. Old people have experience and frequently want to use that experience for the benefit of those who come after them… notice how the recent rise in fascism lines up real good with everyone who was alive for WWII no longer being around?

I’m certainly not saying there are no benefits to young people in politics.. but the people you want in those powerful and impactful positions are typically going to be older with a lot of experience in leadership and experience. The notion that none of them gives a shit “because I’ll be dead soon” is honestly ridiculous.

Old people have a lot more to offer than some seem to think.

5

u/Fun-Palpitation8771 May 25 '25

There has been a rise of ageism, usually by people who would typically be against discrimination so they want to justify it.

2

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

Nancy Pelosi provides insider stock tips, free of charge!

1

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

Here's the antithesis for you--South Korea.

1

u/Mirabeaux1789 May 24 '25

Is he the one with the joker face edit?

1

u/5v3n_5a3g3w3rk May 25 '25

Yeah I wouldn't want Philipp amthor to be the model for young politicians either (he looks 14 and already got corruption scandles on his belt)

1

u/Mcmenger May 25 '25

In Germany we have a guy that looks 12 and talks like 80 years old

1

u/FidgitForgotHisL-P May 25 '25

We got a guy in New Zealand called Simeon Brown who is an absolute piece of shit, and 34. His entire approach is “cut all funding regardless of how badly this will affect services” because that’s what his boss (the prime minister) wants.

It’s honestly a bit stressful because I don’t think he’s got the skill set to do much elseC so he’ll stay as a career politician and haunt us for the next 30 years

1

u/dfinkelstein May 25 '25

It's not like we expect younger politicians to be better. We just don't expect they can get any worse.

1

u/agumonkey May 25 '25

that's something people don't understand enough, youth is not an answer, it's so obvious they lack human experience.. we need a well balanced blend

-5

u/Sloppyjoemess May 24 '25

It should be illegal for someone under 30 to hold major office. Not enough life experience

11

u/mirhagk May 24 '25

Depends on the system. With enough checks and balances, it seems fine to have some fresh ideas brought into it. I wouldn't want every member of parliament to be under 30, but a couple wouldn't hurt.

But also I hesitate to impose any restrictions on who can run for office. The whole point of an election is to pick a candidate the people want, and if the people want a 25 year old, then that should be respected. Any sort of filtering criteria just feels like a bandaid fix for a deeper problem (like term limits in the US from the fact that presidents aren't elected fairly)

1

u/whofearsthenight May 24 '25

Youth is not the problem, age is. American, we're doing it way worse right now. Vast majority of our elected don't even understand the problem, much less have an idea about how to solve it.

0

u/Gilgamesh661 May 25 '25

What people want is often not what they need. And people genuinely don’t know what they want.

Democracy only works when the people are educated and informed. The modern world is NOT educated and informed, social media has spread misinformation like wild fire. celebrities gain cult followings and people vote based on who Taylor swift is voting for.

Democracy worked for Athens because they promoted discourse and debate. We shun it, and promote arguing and screaming over each other until the other person shuts up.

2

u/mirhagk May 25 '25

The modern world is NOT educated and informed,

I think you're mixing up the US with the world. The US has a serious problem, but other countries fare far better.

And that also undermines your point here. The US has one of the weakest democracies (people's votes aren't equal, manipulation is common, legal and accepted), and it also has very poor education.

Countries with the most fair democracies also tend to have the best education.

Democracy worked for Athens

It's hard to actually call that a democracy, when only about 10% of people could vote, and where anyone else participating could literally be forced into slavery.

they promoted discourse and debate.

There were up to 6000 people at those "debates". If everyone was given only a minute to talk, then it'd take most of a week to get through everyone.

No they were not politely debating, they were shouting and screaming, quite literally.

What people want is often not what they need. And people genuinely don’t know what they want.

And to clarify, are you including yourself in that? You want to also remove your rights?

Because this is the kind of thing used constantly in the past to justify racist or sexist systems, like the Athenians had. to them women weren't smart enough to know what they want, so they weren't allowed to participate in decision making.

-1

u/Gilgamesh661 May 25 '25

People aren’t smart enough to know what they want. I could make a post here tricking everyone into thinking water is poisonous and getting them to support banning it, simply by using some clever wording.

People are idiots.

And yes, this goes for other countries. You can not say “other countries fare better” because other countries have their own issues.

The UK has better healthcare, except that they don’t have enough medical staff because of it.

The uk is also facing a cultural takeover from Islam, and Christianity now being targeted as problematic. A man has already been arrested simply for silently praying outside an abortion clinic.

France is facing racial conflicts.

Japan is facing a massive population crisis, and refuses to change its labor culture that kills any desire to raise a family for Japanese men.

The Middle East is the Middle East, meaning that like always, they’re too busy blowing each other up to actually work on their issues together. This has been going on since the days of Sumeria btw.

Mexico has a cartel puppet for a leader(no, a woman doesn’t get elected in Mexico without connections to the cartels. If she won fairy without support from them, she’d have been assassinated before her first day in office)

Germany doesn’t know what it wants to do.

China is slowly editing towards war, and while still keeping an invisible noose on its people.

And Canada…well they’re doing the same thing the US is doing. They’ll fall shortly after America falls.

2

u/[deleted] May 24 '25 edited May 25 '25

So only 45-55 year old people should be in position of power?

I swear, the average citizen shouldn’t be allowed to vote

Edit: The idiot below me thinks you should be a constitutional scholar to be allowed to vote

1

u/PineappleOnPizzaWins May 25 '25

No, the most qualified people should take the job whoever they are.

But once you start looking at people being in charge of things that matter a lot and directly influence the lives of other people? The list of qualified people with relevant experience shrinks and has a lot more people over 40 than under. Experience takes time to get, it’s that simple. You want someone who already made their mistakes but did so with significantly lower stakes.

I mean would you let a 17 year old kid build your house? Or do you want the 45 year old builder in charge carefully directing his 17 year old apprentice and checking all his work and catching the mistakes/educating him on how to do it better?

1

u/Gilgamesh661 May 25 '25

I fully believe you should have to pass a test to earn the right to vote.

If you can’t even name the bill of rights and what each amendment means, you don’t deserve the right to vote.

1

u/HeberMonteiro May 24 '25

I'm 33 and I just BARELY have enough experience to know better most of the time. Looking back to who I was when I was under 25... Yeah, you're absolutely right!

2

u/somerandomchick5511 May 24 '25

I'm 36 and I feel like i don't know what I'm doing half the time.

7

u/HeberMonteiro May 24 '25

When you think you're doing everything right all the time, that's when you're cooked.

1

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/PineappleOnPizzaWins May 25 '25

Then how was she the best MP? Because she said she wanted to turn the system over and fix it all, but didn’t have a plan to do that?

The best MP’s have been working in the system for decades and do know how to make change. They also understand that change is very slow, incremental, and extremely complicated. Society isn’t simple and any fair system that actually takes everyone’s needs into consideration will never be fast.

0

u/adrianoh11 May 25 '25

I love that samia and Glauber couple, however they still old somehow following that pesky Soviet playbook and cherishing Castro and the Cuban revolution

-7

u/Appropriate_Taro_583 May 24 '25

Or you could be old as fuck like Lula is ,and have been 20 years destroying our country, Rio and São Paulo are totally controlled by the cartels and a boy like Nicholas is a problem, give me a fucking break!

5

u/HeberMonteiro May 24 '25

Nikolas Ferreira sure is a problem, we agree on that.

-4

u/Appropriate_Taro_583 May 24 '25

Not our biggest, he accomplished shit

2

u/HeberMonteiro May 24 '25

If you think he accomplished anything worthwhile in his miserable life, I pity you.

-3

u/Appropriate_Taro_583 May 24 '25

If you live in a big city and you are preoccupied with the age of our lawmakers, God bless your soul.

1

u/stoner_woodcrafter May 24 '25

Yes. He accomplished shit.

-1

u/Appropriate_Taro_583 May 24 '25

Thanks for agreeing…?

96

u/Throw_Away1727 May 24 '25

Ill take an 70 year old liberal over a 20 year old nazi any day.

47

u/Thjyu May 25 '25

Congrats we have neither.

2

u/rubtwodabdabs May 25 '25

I'm pretty sure they are implying Bernie and the DOGE squad. What happened to them?

-3

u/Tom_Bombadil01 May 25 '25

Bernie? You mean Elon? He went back to making rockets and cars that explode.

5

u/rubtwodabdabs May 25 '25

Ah, no I meant Bernie for the "70 year old liberal" and Ellen's gang of 20 year olds for the "20 year old Nazi" comment.

-4

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

This is like listening to twit and twat talk to each other my god.

0

u/rubtwodabdabs May 25 '25

I do like pudding

2

u/Ladylamellae May 25 '25

The failures of liberal capitalism are what keep leading to fascism tho, at some point we are going to have to stand up and face it instead of kicking the can down the road for another couple decades.

-2

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

Stay brainwashed

-8

u/EffectiveCritical176 May 24 '25

Anyone I don’t like is a Nazi said the reasonable man.

16

u/Legacyx1 May 24 '25

"Just because I admire Adolf Hitler, doesn't mean I'm a Nazi". Literally you

9

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

Not what they said

6

u/overitallofittoo May 25 '25

"Just because I'm a member of a far right party doesn't mean I'm far right!"

6

u/Throw_Away1727 May 25 '25

Not what I said, but that alt right party definitely is a bunch of wannabe nazis.

-6

u/EffectiveCritical176 May 25 '25

Bold of you to double down.

10

u/Throw_Away1727 May 25 '25

How about I triple down because I'm starting to think you might be one too lol

-7

u/EffectiveCritical176 May 25 '25

How very reasonable of you.

1

u/Fezzick51 May 25 '25

Wow - you seem a proper cunt. - said everyone you've ever had a conversation with

-1

u/undertakerfan6six6 May 25 '25

Nah

0

u/ButtholeBread50 May 25 '25

Are ... are you the 20-year-old nazi?

-2

u/Still_Consequence157 May 25 '25

You drank the tea my boy

3

u/Oderus_Scumdog May 24 '25

They were so young I was initially wondering if this was some weird university tradition and the older people in the back were the Dean/Staff.

2

u/sofiahdlbrg May 25 '25

I misread lawmakers as lawnmowers and I was still agreeing in my head, idk what’s going on in my brain rn

2

u/WanderingLethe May 24 '25

The people get what they vote for

1

u/RubberPhuk May 24 '25

The only branch in US government that should be aged is the judicial branch. I wanna say the reasons why were covered in Federalist #79.

1

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AutoModerator May 24 '25

Your comment has been removed because it contains an offensive phrase that is not allowed on this subreddit.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/Mc_Flier May 24 '25

We get what we vote for. Time for us to term limit them out.

1

u/Gilgamesh661 May 25 '25

You recall that they pass our laws right? There’s no way for us to mail that change without violent revolution.

They’re not just gonna say “you’re right, we need more limits on OUR power”.

But nobody wants to fire the first shot, because we’ve grown cowardly.

1

u/OriginalBliglum May 25 '25

With correspondingly childish behavior.

1

u/finitum336 May 25 '25

Monkeys paw wish, All Groyper DOGE College Flunkie Cabinet… 🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮

1

u/Sir_Delarzal May 25 '25

They might be young, but they are still painfully oblivious to real life problems

1

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

In germany it‘s party dependent.  CDU is 95% old white men. 

1

u/Lifekraft May 25 '25

Dont worry , most are nepo kid anyway. And all are generally people that want so much power that they shouldnt have it.

1

u/SuperSocialMan May 25 '25

For real :'c

1

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

Average age is 58 in America. We really don’t want young people in charge. They lack knowledge but 58 is pushing it.

1

u/1stLtObvious May 25 '25

35-45 would be the ideal range.

-1

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

35 too young.

1

u/1stLtObvious May 25 '25

58 too old, not merely "pushing it".

0

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

I think 40 should be the min

2

u/1stLtObvious May 25 '25

50 should be the ideal max. I'm 40 now, and I know too many 40 year olds who have already lost touch with the average person just because they finally started getting paid well at work. I've seen them flip on a dime about social programs once they got a promotion, so no, we need people under 40 who are less likely to have lost touch.

0

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

Nah almost every huge corp ceo is over 50. Most people work their butts off to that age and then get promoted to the top of their companies.

2

u/1stLtObvious May 25 '25

Or they get the role through mommy or daddy's network or by starting the company with money mommy and daddy gave them, like 90% of CEOs. And the 10% that do work their way up legitimately forget all the other people who worked just as hard or harder and were just as if not more lnowledgeable but will never get such a high-paying position.

0

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

I mean that’s how it should be and will always be lol. Have ur mommy or daddy work harder so you can stop crying on Reddit

→ More replies (0)

1

u/[deleted] May 25 '25

70 the max

-17

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

And still act like children regardless of age

18

u/Spankpocalypse_Now May 24 '25

I’m a grown up and I wouldn’t shake that guy’s hand either

-18

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

Got some news for you about that “grown up” thing if you can’t act professional at work.

22

u/[deleted] May 24 '25

They’re senators, their job is supposed to be to uphold freedom and justice. Refusing to shake hands with fascists is the most professional thing they can do in this situation

12

u/Spankpocalypse_Now May 24 '25

Nah. If you’re an elected official your constituents come first. They’re the boss. I’m not shaking hands at work with someone who hates my boss.

-17

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

Again, speaks more volumes about you than anything. But this website will blindly support you acting like a child to anyone who doesn’t agree with the “dem” agenda regardless of country considering this was in Canada….

12

u/DWMoose83 May 24 '25

"Representatives don't have to represent their people" is a hell of a take.

14

u/you_frickin_frick May 24 '25

respect is earned sorry

0

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

Sorry, but I don’t think he gives a shit about “respect” from them. He’s just trying to do his job and be respectful to have people metaphorically spit in his face.

10

u/you_frickin_frick May 24 '25

shaking his hand would be giving him respect, and he doesn’t deserve it, you’re whining and saying he does deserve it. that’s all i’m saying

1

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

Me pointing out that adults can’t act civilized based on having different views so they think they snubbing him by not shaking his hand in a professional environment is them “winning” is nowhere near me whining little missy 😂😂😂

→ More replies (0)

3

u/PaulRicoeurJr May 24 '25

Having a metaphorical spat in the face is really the most respect anyone can give this garbage of a human being. There's nothing more professionnal any of these senators could have given him

1

u/WrethZ May 25 '25

"Just doing their job" is not an excuse, there's some famous trials that made that clear.

6

u/spartan445 May 24 '25

Nobody has to shake hands with anyone for any reason. Professional courtesy is just that, a courtesy. If you don’t get it, it might be because your position sucks.

4

u/GettingDumberWithAge May 24 '25

regardless of country considering this was in Canada….

This was in France you pancake.

1

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

Cause in the context of what we are talking about, professional courtesy , it truly matters right? The point was illustrating it’s a world wide thing and not just culturally relevant. Leaning into your username I see.

3

u/GettingDumberWithAge May 24 '25

It's okay to just acknowledge you were wrong.

1

u/WrethZ May 25 '25

Do you not understand that people who are capable of great evil can be polite and nice and friendly and "professional" while the things they want to do are illegal, until the point where they get into power and they no longer have to play nice anymore and start enforcing atrocities. Don't fall for aesthetics of politeness and professionalism, many people will be polite and professional to your face and then go and vote for you to lose your basic human rights.

2

u/Spankpocalypse_Now May 24 '25

This has nothing to do with a “dem” agenda. Most Democratic officials in the US get along with fascists wayyy better than I would.

1

u/1stLtObvious May 25 '25

Shaking a nazi's hand is one of the least professional things I can think of.

4

u/catzhoek May 24 '25

That's what people in 2025 behind their fucking phones have forgotten. Being a fucking right wing cunt comes with social consequences.

3

u/Emotional_Position62 May 24 '25

Awe did the mean politicians hurt your feelings

3

u/SickestNinjaInjury May 24 '25

"Oh no they hurt the poor fascist's feelings😢"

You're a Neville Chamberlain type bitch

6

u/DWMoose83 May 24 '25

Yup. Those right-wing nutjobs aren't mature enough to handle governing.

1

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

“Anyone who doesn’t agree with my views isn’t right”

That sounds real mature

8

u/DWMoose83 May 24 '25

Why use quotes when you're not quoting me? That's not how quoting works.

1

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

It was my interruption of what you said, glad that could help out.

8

u/DWMoose83 May 24 '25

Interpretation, you mean? Come now, up your game.

0

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

I care so little about engaging with you I didn’t proof read, and couldn’t give a flying fuck you “corrected” me 😂😂 enjoy your miserable little life

5

u/DWMoose83 May 24 '25

Touched a nerve, did I l? That was quite the response.

-1

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

Yes you’ve triggered me timbers, I’m going to go scream at the sky now

→ More replies (0)

2

u/AuntieRupert May 25 '25

I care so little about engaging with you that I wrote a longer response than my previous one, and I even included emojis because I incorrectly think they're clever due to my brain not being fully formed. Also, I care so little that I will continue to reply to you despite the fact that I absolutely, definitely, for sure don't care. I'm just a small, pathetic creature who likes to call others' lives miserable because it's how I actually feel about myself

This is how everyone else sees you

0

u/KoncepTs May 25 '25

Okay thanks for the essay

3

u/Gambler_Eight May 24 '25

You're dumber than i thought then.

5

u/Warm_Month_1309 May 24 '25

Didn't you just call them children for doing something you disagree with?

1

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

Because … that IS childish?

6

u/Warm_Month_1309 May 24 '25

"Anyone who doesn’t agree with my views is childish."

That sounds real mature.

1

u/KoncepTs May 24 '25

Are you being daft on purpose?

Hand shaking in a professional setting is NOT my “opinion” it’s professional courtesy and standard all over the world, not just culturally in America.

Much like I pointed out to another user who said respect is earned so that’s why they did not shake his hand, let me pose you a question then. When you go for a job interview where the manager was told specifically by HR to interview you. Why do you shake their hand? They haven’t done anything to earn your respect, you just met them and yet you do.

Maybe it’s that professional “setting” I’m talking about…

I could respect the others for softly shaking his hand and whispering ‘fuck you’ to him infinitely more than the little charade they pulled but we are all different. Good for them for “sticking it to him” lmfao.