“Elderliness” is in the Mind Friday, Jun 12 2009
life extension and transhumanism 10:11 pm
Elder Bush jumped out of a plane again, this time for his 85th birthday. Here’s what he said:
“Just because you’re old, that doesn’t mean you can’t do fun stuff. And you don’t want to sit around drooling in the corner. And so it’s a wonderful release.
“And you know, because I was president it sends a message all around. Go out and get something doing. Just ’cause … old guys can still have fun and still do stuff.”
Damn right! This reminds me of another thing — I was walking around outside just yesterday and saw some older woman, maybe 70 or so, with pigtails and a shirt with a skull on it, “like a teenager”. And that’s perfectly fine! Social conservatives, or mucky mucks, or whatever else you want to call them, are constantly trying to shove people into their restrictive social norms whereby old people are forced to be boring. The older you are, the more boring you must be to be respectable. Forget it. People of any age should be able to act or dress whatever age they want.
A particularly uptight article on the subject was published on Time.com not that long ago. This disparaging article is complete crap. Catherine Mayer, the journalist that wrote this, is nothing but an uptight brainwashed ageist social cage-enforcing drone.
while i’m all for a bit of modesty sometimes, i think i get your point and i agree it is about 1000+% right on, about. :) but hey? what does my opinion matter? :)
bless you, sir. :)
Ridiculous overkill in the last paragraph there. She says hardly a thing against “amortality” in her article. Maybe you disapprove of her just because she doesn’t actively cheer on the phenomenon?
I think you also greatly underestimate the extent to which the “boring” personalities of older people result from the ugly experience of physical decline, disillusionment with life, realization they were wrong about many things when younger, a greater sense of responsibility for the future, and so forth.
Right on, man. I also think we need to be more cognizant of the unchecked ageism that goes on — whether it be through outright discrimination or seemingly ‘harmless’ jokes. I challenge all of you to start paying attention to how often ageism crops up in daily life and to refrain from making such sentiments and assumptions yourself.
Mitchell, clearly she portrays “amortality” in a negative light:
Clearly, if Bush can seize life, millions of older people around the country can too. I know a great many older folks who spend all day sitting in front of the TV although they are quite capable of getting up and being more active. I also know older folks (like some of my grandparents) who are in their 70s but who are still very active. They don’t possess supernatural health, just good habits and a joy for life.
Whenever I express any strong opinion whatsoever, someone always says it’s going overboard.