So I watched a Simpsons episode not-very-long-ago in which Lisa accidentally makes a drug that placates cranky old people, and calamity ensues. The conclusion was that Grampa Simpson and his band of senior citizen buddies decide to stop taking the drug because the younger generations need their endless complaining to keep them in line and stop trashing everything.
It raised an interesting point, and openly suggested something I think many of us have been mulling over mentally. Is the reason so many people complain about the older generation simply because they pass judgement on our far more frivolous, materialistic modern lifestyle? When all those grandparents complain about how much better it was in their day, do we secretly suspect they might be right?
Okay. Lets go back to basics.
In many cultures, the older you are, the more revered you are as a source of wisdom and knowledge. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. While no-one should ever make the mistake of dismissing the insight of the young, there is a lot to be said of the value of experience and accumulated wisdom.
But something has happened in western culture which means those above a certain age are generally shunted to the sidelines, brushed under the carpet, and not listened to. At some point, the post-baby boomer generations decided that the wisdom of the old was irrelevant, and that old age was a time of rapidly decreasing social relevance.
Why?
In my view, it all comes from the intensely materialistic and capitalistic culture we have built for ourselves. The culture where consumption is the highest priority, and pretty much everything is judged by it's price. This is a problem regarding retirees in two ways.
Firstly , they cost money rather than making it. According the morality of materialism, this means they have intrinsically less value. Never mind what they've done in the past, or the advice they can give, or anything else- because they are an output and not an input financially, they are always in an inferior position in society to their younger counterparts.
Secondly, everyone above a certain age has grown up before the advent of ultra-materialism. Therefore, like we said before, they are able to judge it from the outside, and that judgement is rarely good. Because of the arrogance of humans, we find it grating to hear any criticism of our choice of lifestyle, especially when it's the life modern society has demanded we take.
This is the most ludicrous of all. It is healthy to hear criticism of whatever choices we take, and good to take on board the opinions of others. But, increasingly, we don't seem to be able to do that. Whenever someone has something negative to say about modern society, whether they are elderly, environmentalism or live outside the West, they are dismissed with sneering Tu Quoque arguments. The old are said to be incapable, environmentalists are hippies and freaks, non-Westerners are impoverished, primitive extremists who need civilising.
I am exaggerating to some extent here. But the central point, that we in the West who conform to consumerism, are all too eager to dismiss anyone who critisises our society as ignorant or extremist, is indeed the case.
And the even more central point, that the elderly deserve more respect than they get from our culture, is not only true, but vital for making ours a gentler, more human and morally superior society.
It raised an interesting point, and openly suggested something I think many of us have been mulling over mentally. Is the reason so many people complain about the older generation simply because they pass judgement on our far more frivolous, materialistic modern lifestyle? When all those grandparents complain about how much better it was in their day, do we secretly suspect they might be right?
Okay. Lets go back to basics.
In many cultures, the older you are, the more revered you are as a source of wisdom and knowledge. This, to me, makes a lot of sense. While no-one should ever make the mistake of dismissing the insight of the young, there is a lot to be said of the value of experience and accumulated wisdom.
But something has happened in western culture which means those above a certain age are generally shunted to the sidelines, brushed under the carpet, and not listened to. At some point, the post-baby boomer generations decided that the wisdom of the old was irrelevant, and that old age was a time of rapidly decreasing social relevance.
Why?
In my view, it all comes from the intensely materialistic and capitalistic culture we have built for ourselves. The culture where consumption is the highest priority, and pretty much everything is judged by it's price. This is a problem regarding retirees in two ways.
Firstly , they cost money rather than making it. According the morality of materialism, this means they have intrinsically less value. Never mind what they've done in the past, or the advice they can give, or anything else- because they are an output and not an input financially, they are always in an inferior position in society to their younger counterparts.
Secondly, everyone above a certain age has grown up before the advent of ultra-materialism. Therefore, like we said before, they are able to judge it from the outside, and that judgement is rarely good. Because of the arrogance of humans, we find it grating to hear any criticism of our choice of lifestyle, especially when it's the life modern society has demanded we take.
This is the most ludicrous of all. It is healthy to hear criticism of whatever choices we take, and good to take on board the opinions of others. But, increasingly, we don't seem to be able to do that. Whenever someone has something negative to say about modern society, whether they are elderly, environmentalism or live outside the West, they are dismissed with sneering Tu Quoque arguments. The old are said to be incapable, environmentalists are hippies and freaks, non-Westerners are impoverished, primitive extremists who need civilising.
I am exaggerating to some extent here. But the central point, that we in the West who conform to consumerism, are all too eager to dismiss anyone who critisises our society as ignorant or extremist, is indeed the case.
And the even more central point, that the elderly deserve more respect than they get from our culture, is not only true, but vital for making ours a gentler, more human and morally superior society.
Looking after the elderly comes naturally. They raised us and we in turn long to look after them, even if that's difficult and a drain on our immediate comfort.
ReplyDeleteYour argument leans so far into the wisdom of elders that you paint a nation of anti-intellectuals damned to launch a cycle of ignorance.
The truth is that most of the elderly are actually a stubborn, racist, homophobic, terrified majority who vote against any good change we propose to secure their own interests without any care for the future they won't see. And it's the lucky children and grandchildren who don't inherit their views.
There is clearly a wide gulf between our respective experiences of the elderly.
ReplyDeleteI see no reason to condemn all 60-plusses as inherently conservative. Many of the most liberal and progressive people I know happen to be of grandparenting age. It is too dangerous to stereotype a group of that size to that extent.
And, I do not think our society is damned. I just think we have a lot of work to do, and that begins with dispelling any notions that we "know it all". Which is what we are assuming when we dismiss so readily the views of "outsiders", including those who grew up before our culture became what it is.
Samuel D. Lockhart writes:
ReplyDeletemost
Copsonator writes:
all
I don't even have to restrict this to the elderly - much of my own parents' generation think like how I described. Of course I know it's not all of them, and my bookshelf would attest to how I take seriously anyone with wisdom regardless of age, but the majority of people don't enjoy thinking.
I personally don't think you can have enough experience to declare that "most" of any demographic group pertain to the characteristics you have described. But, I digress.
ReplyDeleteIf you say you take the input of the elderly seriously, then I really don't see what we're supposed to be arguing about.