There’s a general tendency for older folks to feel persecuted, that the world is out to get them. We hear a lot that our seniors aren’t respected, and how it’s challenging for the elderly to get employed.
From this bellyaching, one gets the sense that there’s something incorrect about not revering our seniors. However, when looking at productivity and political choices objectively, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that if anything we are “ageist” in favor of, rather than against seniors.
I want to take a couple of case studies that I think reflect society’s general preferences and explain how I think it’s probably the case that society overvalues input from our seniors, relative to younger people.
Example 1: COVID-19. Shutting down the world was a pro-elderly, anti-developmental choice. Young school children suffered from having to wear masks, not socialize, and exist. By contrast, elderly people benefited from these restrictions relative to young people, because if those restrictions weren’t in place, many young people would have accepted the risk.
Example 2: Social Security and Medicare: Our pensions system is set up in a way that debts the future to pay for the present elderly. If 15% of my pay is set aside for this my entire life (obviously there’s caps on this), then it’s hard to escape the realization that this aims to benefit the presently old at the expense of the presently young.
Example 3: Political Representation: Older people are much better represented in political decision-makers and are more likely to have a protected job. If you are young, it’s easier to adjust to the labor market, but elderly people are often insulated from it in things like government supported unions, or positions that are permanently funded. Elderly people often want to raise the minimum age of voting, but are reticent from talking about capping political representation at 80.
Example 4: Minimum Experience Requirements & General Employment Protections: From my personal experience, a lot of elderly people on the job are set in their ways and less open to changing their approach to solving problems, and can be harder to work with. They complain that it’s harder to hire them, but it would be insane for a business owner to hire a more expensive, less productive, less mold-able person. The fact that anyone bats an eye over this tells the broader truth that we support elderly people more should really look more honestly at the situation.
Example 5: Lecturing & Moral Authority. Often we’re told about how Gen-Z is addicted to their phones, and as a result there’s a bunch of problems. However, the most gullible people seem to be on the tail-end of age. Scams target the elderly because they are probably the easiest to fool, not because of a scammers inherent dislike of old people. The same is true for slots machine addictions. The fact that it’s harder to talk about the misdeeds and poor judgement of elderly people should suggest that society naturally tilts towards deference to the elderly.
I could keep going on, but I think it’s abundantly clear that the elderly are not getting a raw deal, and should recognize their comparative well-being. I think it would be interesting if we could have a more honest conversation about ageism, and whether it tilts the other way (why is a 45+ year old person just assumed to be more competent).
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