http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5958720Oh my.
G_j (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:50 PM
Original message
getting old in a culture that looks down on old people is rather disconcerting...
Captain Hilts (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:51 PM
Response to Original message
1. Yeah, I just turned the big Five Oh. Wear it proudly.
I had to go look it up in the "name change" directory in the DUmping Ground, a subsidiary forum of the DUmpster here.
The "Captain Hilts" primitive was once the "MookieWilson" primitive.
villager (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:57 PM
Original message
hey -- so did I. 'Bout a week ago....
Captain Hilts (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:02 PM
Response to Original message
14. So, all the cool kids are turning fifty about now.
The warped primitive, who unestimates her presence:
Warpy (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:54 PM
Response to Original message
2. Women have a bizarre experience in their 50s
All of a sudden we become invisible to everybody but our closest friends and families. It's like we just don't exist as human beings any more. No one is interested in what we have to say, how we think, who we are. We're just another piece of furniture, something to step around on the way to someone more interesting.
G_j (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:57 PM
Response to Reply #2
8. I always hoped we would culturally evolve beyond those attitudes,
maybe someday...
Yeah, the gastro-intestinal primitive was probably one of those hippies 45 years ago saying people over 30 were old.
What goes around, comes around.
SDuderstadt (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:23 PM
Response to Reply #2
24. I'm sorry...did you say something?
Sorry, I couldn't resist. Since 50, I've noticed teenage girls no longer giggle when I walk by.
madmax (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:54 PM
Response to Original message
3. Turning 60 in August
Not feeling old and not looking too shabby but, you're right. Take heart in that knowledge that you have and be comfortable with yourself. At my age I finally realized the only opinion about me that matters is mine.
monmouth (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:55 PM
Response to Original message
4. I'll be in my very late 60s in July, but mentally am looking forward to getting my driver's license...
Probably no more than a learner's permit.
redqueen (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:55 PM
Response to Original message
5. I wonder...if that habit has anything to do with the opposite - obsessive adoration of youthfulness.
We glorify actresses who have good plastic surgery jobs. We glorify people who continue to indulge in risky behaviors when others' sense of risk avoidance would normally have kicked in. It's all so stupid IMO.
One senses some gayphobia here.
DearAbby (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:56 PM
Response to Original message
6. No so bad as before
We have a lot of company.
off topic: Any god damned idiot who comes to me and says " you're not old..fifty is the new thirty", I am gonna go over there and kick his ass!
Deja Q (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:56 PM
Response to Original message
7. Ageism stinks. And then look around and see who supports ageist people.
Directly or otherwise, it is a fascinating look at so-called "human nature".
(aka "purportedly justified bullshit").
shanti (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 03:35 PM
Response to Reply #7
28. yeah, but getting old stinks worse!
DavidDvorkin (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:58 PM
Response to Original message
9. Oh, to be 50 again!
Or even 60.
You kids today. Always complaining.
Wizard777 (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:02 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. or even 70. Since 77 isn't as old as it used to be. 80 isn't as scary as it used to be.
In fact I'm looking forward to it. In light of recent events I'm more grateful than ever before of each passing year.
Wait until 0bamacare kicks in.
RaleighNCDUer (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:10 PM
Response to Reply #13
17. I have to say, I feel older at 56 than my mother's 83 year old boyfriend seems to be.
Just a matter of perspective.
Wizard777 (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 12:59 PM
Response to Original message
10. 77 isn't as old as it used to be!
Ganja Ninja (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:01 PM
Response to Original message
11. This culture looks down on anybody that doesn't have money regardless of age. Old people don't have to feel all alone in that.
Wizard777 (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 03:10 PM
Response to Reply #11
25. Such is the culture of greed we call capitalism to lend legitimacy to sin.
Of course there is an outrageous APR on that loan of legitimacy.
The rate of return for the investor is your body, mind, and soul.
Which for a primitive yields a negative return.
David__77 (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:02 PM
Response to Original message
12. 50 is the new 30.
I think it's really true. People aren't the fogeys they used to be.
RaleighNCDUer (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:12 PM
Response to Reply #12
19. I am!
And keep off my lawn!
Posteritatis (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:04 PM
Response to Original message
15. Honestly I've gotten the impression that this culture looks down on *everyone*
I feel like I'm in one of the tiny windows where that's not the case (or maybe I'm just lucky), but this culture really feels like it's got an equal-opportunity contempt thing going on. Older people are conservative, a drain on resources and Don't Get It; younger people are disrespectful, intrinsically criminal and Don't Get It; just about everyone in between is clearly at fault for everything that isn't the doing of the other two groups, etc etc etc.
Ageism pisses me off no matter which direction it's going in, but it seems to be going in every possible direction as of late.
(And, of course, don't get me started on things looked down on for reasons other than age. Oy.)
Obviously referring to the rabid anti-semitism of the primitives.
seabeyond (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:15 PM
Response to Reply #15
21. equal-opportunity contempt. i think you may be right.
no_hypocrisy (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:04 PM
Response to Original message
16. Other cultures revere the elderly as having given them their opportunity by working and sacrificing for the rising generations.
Okay then, where's the primitive respect for Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, the first George Bush, Robert Dole, Gerald Ford, &c., &c., &c.?
Echo In Light (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:17 PM
Response to Original message
22. It's corporate culture "values," nothing inherent in the human condition
Brainwashed society
The Mary Pickford primitive, who's about as old as Mary Pickford would be, if Mary Pickford were still alive:
Cleita (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 01:21 PM
Response to Original message
23. They treat you like shit in the large cities. If you move to smaller places that cater to retirees you get more respect because they need your money. Also, medical services are geared for old people. I live in such a place. The nearest city is also a college town so you get a mix of young and old when you go into town to do your shopping. The merchants cater to both.
The Good Samaritan primitive, who reccently started collecting social security:
Mari333 (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 03:13 PM
Response to Original message
26. well, Im getting old and this culture can kiss my ass and I intend to be the most cantankerous old lady they ever met. I will have good company..we are the largest demographic group in the USA....this culture can kiss all our asses.
But a demographic group that's shrinking, not growing. Old people die, not regenerate.
aikoaiko (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 03:30 PM
Response to Original message
27. What do you see in our cultures as "looking down on old people"
With the graying of boomers, getting looks as good as ever.
JitterbugPerfume (1000+ posts) Tue Jun-30-09 03:42 PM
Response to Original message
29. my sister age62 had a stroke in October and she said she is no longer invisible , but treated with outright contempt when she "gets in the way" at the grocery store etc.
The above primitive must live in a blue state or blue city.
Out here in reddest Nebraska, ancients with afflictions are treated especially kindly by "fundies," "religious" "zealots," "right-wingers," Republicans, conservatives, old, young, rich, poor, farmer, rancher, mechanic, dentist, &c., &c., &c.
