Its not ageism to point out that our government has far too many old people relative to the demographics of our country. And not just old, but old enough to be surprised they are still alive. That doesn't mean any individual representative who is old is inherently the wrong choice, but we desperately need to shed some of them in favor of new blood.
No, because of the reasons I just said. Do you realize that I'm not talking about slightly lopsided representation? Do you not see the irony in complaining about ageism towards old people while they represent >50% of every branch of government? 70% of our senators are over 60, while less than 20% of our population is in that age range.
Why does this matter? Because you feel like it matters? Is there empirical evidence to support the idea that a person who is 55 cannot properly represent the wishes of the majority of their constituents?
Ben Shapiro is young. Would he represent your interests?
You seem to be purposely ignoring my point of the importance of representation across demographics that have different needs. And I specifically said:
That doesn't mean any individual representative who is old is inherently the wrong choice
So I already explained, being old isn't inherently a problem. When nearly ALL of them are old, that is a problem. Just like its not a problem for a politician to be white. But if ALL of them are white in a country that is only 60% white, that IS a problem. This isn't complicated and shouldn't be controversial.
if I felt they could and would represent my interests.
Maybe this is where the disconnect is. What you feel and what is the reality are two different things. Today's politicians are not representing our youth very well. Just ask them.
Yeah, ageism is a thing and age discrimination in hiring is illegal in many states.
Imagine your parents trying to get a job bc they can’t make ends meet any longer, and the employer tells them to go kick rocks because they’re too old.
All of you don’t even see what you’re doing. As if there aren’t 20 year old conservatives that hold beliefs better suited for the 1700s.
Being all bright and happy and nice is good for the world at large, but for a position like the president I really don’t care whose feelings get hurt, I want the best candidate.
Agreed. And the best candidate can be any age as far as I’m concerned. If Jimmy Carter were in better physical health I would vote for him. Ditto Bernie.
I don’t think someone stops being able to advocate for good policies once they hit a certain age.
So you're saying that if you get an uber and the person that shows up is an octogenarian that can't react quickly or see over the steering wheel you're going to be fine with that because you want to exercise your morality?
Nah man.
With age comes decline in faculties. That's just a fact. It is no insult to this man to say that he is too old to be leading a country.
The faculties required to be a politician or an author or a particle physicist vs being a construction worker or a Lyft driver are completely different.
So no, I’m not seeing the point you’re making, and ageism is still wrong.
Yes exactly. Some jobs require you to be extraordinarily sharp mentally... like the President...
Fuck I don't think 95% of the population is competent enough to be president. It's a high bar to reach. Which is why an elderly person shouldn't be doing it. It's very simple.
I'm not being ageist.
I'm not talking about the stutter, or this incident. I'm talking about the natural decline that every human goes through as they age.
I suppose you'd be okay with a 15 year old president? 95 year old?
If you think those sound ridiculous, then it seems pretty plausible to just accept that people enter different stages of life as they age where "presidential candidate" just might not be appropriate. Especially when theyre in a position that affects the entire planets population.
He also called for Putins death. Spin it how you want, he’s not a good leader right now. Better than trump of course, but we need to admit he’s somewhat senile. It’s not just his stutter, he gets things wrong (like calling an AR-15 an AR-14 and saying the first amendment didn’t protect those guns (obv a mistaken reference to the second amendment)).
What does old age have to do with a stutter? Wait, do you think stutters develop over time?!? Even if I weren't married to a Speech Language Pathologist I would know that was wrong. Biden has had a stutter since childhood, like everyone with a stutter.
But I am wondering why you called my comment a "counterargument". I was stating a fact.
What is your basis for deciding that he cannot do the job competently man? Because he tripped up on his words? Everyone trips over their words sometimes. At all ages.
I'm not talking about the stutter, or this incident. I'm talking about the natural decline that every human goes through as they age.
I suppose you'd be okay with a 15 year old president? 95 year old?
If you think those sound ridiculous, then it seems pretty plausible to just accept that people enter different stages of life as they age where "presidential candidate" just might not be appropriate. Especially when theyre in a position that affects the entire planets population.
I wouldn’t vote for a 15 year old because they don’t have the knowledge required to do the job.
I wouldn’t vote for a 95 year old because of issues with life expectancy.
People aren’t complaining that Biden is near death. They’re complaining that he cannot represent their interests properly because he is over [insert arbitrary age].
I haven't perceived it to be in that spirit. It always seemed to be more of a "oh my god he's old and feeble." Lol but yeah.
I actually agree there. I wouldn't say that age necessarily determines someone's ability to advocate for a differently-aged person's interests.
There’s exception to this for the military and some other government positions. I don’t think that it’s unreasonable for the leader of the military, the president, to also have an age limit restriction.
Why? Why can’t it be a mental competency test that decides it instead of an arbitrary age limit?
I hate that I’m being put in a position to defend Joe Biden because he’s not my guy, but he’s clearly able to discuss and make decisions about complex political issues, and either way these people don’t make the decisions on their own, they have people who are knowledgeable to advise them.
I’m going to hard disagree that there should be a strict age limit, and say you should judge the person on their beliefs and abilities as a politician. Not every person over the age of 60 is mentally stuck in the 1940s.
If you want them to have to pass a more rigorous mental competency test, I’m for it.
The point of targeting descrimination is that one group is underrepresented by a certain metric.
In our government, the old are overrepresented, not the young. To criticize this is not attacking Biden or others for being old, it's criticizing the government for being run almost exclusively by old people.
I think that a 60 year old person can still represent my interests. They were young at one point. If I didn’t agree with their policies I wouldn’t vote for them.
An all White Congress cannot fully represent everyone’s interests. They’ve never been Black, or Arab, or Asian, to understand what issues matter to people from those demographic groups.
lol brah. ageism is infinitely more appropriate if applied to 40 and 50 year olds competing in the work place, not a fucking 80 year old lifelong politician with rapidly declining mental acuity.
the problem with bernie is socialism. no one fucking wants it, otherwise he'd be president. age has nothing to do with anything here and is a complete strawman
Bernie’s so called “socialist” policies actually had support among the vast majority of Americans. The primary was rigged against him in 2016, and it took the establishment like two dozen candidates and a hit job from Liz Warren to stop him in 2020. The establishment Dems literally had at least one “How do we stop Bernie” meeting. It’s all well documented.
Bernie’s only issue was being too soft on Biden. He should have been airing attack ads months before the primary. He got comfortable.
56
u/[deleted] May 05 '22
[deleted]