Ageism

©ZDF

On December 18, actor Brad Pitt became 60. He stated, "I don't want to run away from aging. It's a concept we can't escape, and I'd rather see our culture embrace it with slightly more open arms."

Old at 60? Red Baron is 88 and feels his body according to a German proverb, "When you wake up in the morning, and nothing hurts, then you're dead."

In 1966, at 22, Rolling Stones frontmen Mick Jagger and Keith Richards sang, "What a drag it is getting old". Now, Keith just turned 80, a date he commented on, "It feels like 120", while he is still staggering around the world's concert stages.

Although Oscar Wilde once wrote, "Old age is the junk room of life," Red Baron is grateful that his brain cells still work reasonably well except for retaining names.

I perform my daily tasks without help and like to watch and support my grandchildren on their way into their studies or working life, even financially.

Recently, I learned about ageism, i.e., discrimination of the old in daily life. The reasons for discrimination are negative and inaccurate stereotypes that often remain unnoticed.

The majority of people questioned agree that most of the old are severely hampered in everyday life by health issues, are lonely, are unable to adapt to changes, and thus are inferior to younger people. Old people contribute less to societal progress and even are obstructionists, but at the same time, they carry too much political clout. Finally, they represent an economic burden to society.

These observations fall in line with the ideas of two greats of the US tech industry. Vinod Khosla, one of the founders of the software company Sun Microsystems, spoke out a long-known common wisdom of the scientific community, "When it comes to new ideas, people over 45 are practically dead." Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said more bluntly, "Young people are simply smarter."

When Red Baron was young, he was trapped in the narrative of unstoppable progress and a constantly improving life. My parents, who lived through the war, saw my younger generation as having an advantage over them.

Today, this narrative has changed radically. The climate crisis, the pension dilemma, and the mountain of debts led to the radical idea that younger people are systematically disadvantaged in our present world and sometimes downright exploited. Will the young generation face a Grandpapocalypse Now and/or a Grandmageddon?*
*Opacalypse Now and Omageddon were proposed German titles for a book by sociologist Stefan Schulz that was eventually published under the name Die Altenrepublik (The Republic of the Old) and became a bestseller.

While many institutions and organizations address racism and gender bias, it turns out that society accepts age bias.

Does Red Baron feel discriminated? No, except for a silly little detail. I get furious when someone tries to push past me in a queue. Then I get loud and turn into an ugly old man. I am entirely biased by the thought that the culprit is reasoning, "With that old man, I can get away with it."

Dr. Miranda Leontowitsch at Frankfurt University, working on intersections of aging and gender, care and caring in later life, as well as intergenerational relations, claims, "The widespread belief that older people are a burden on society without being able to pay anything back leads to the fact that there are so many active old people today." Does this mean that we old people act out of a guilty conscience?

She continues, "You could also say that older people are not discriminated against as long as they are not regarded as old." Muss ich mir diesen Schuh jetzt anziehen (Do I have to put this shoe on now)?

My answer instead is: My steady muscle training at Kiesers, my prolonged daily walks, my duties as webmaster for two local societies (here and here), my own websites (here and here), and writing this blog are what keep me alive. And while I already sit in front of my PC or iPad for too long, I hate watching mindless TV entertainment.

I have to manage the time that I have left, facing the fact that most of the daily routines take longer, alone buttoning a shirt.

The world may have to put up with me a little longer.
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