{"id":5320,"date":"2019-01-15T09:14:54","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T14:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/?p=5320"},"modified":"2019-01-15T09:14:54","modified_gmt":"2019-01-15T14:14:54","slug":"is-ageism-ever-funny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2019\/01\/is-ageism-ever-funny\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Ageism Ever Funny?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How should I react when comedians on TV, or organizations I respect, make appallingly ageist jokes? I\u2019m 83, so the joke\u2019s on me. Should I object? <\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been a fan of <\/span>Saturday Night Live <\/span><\/i>practically since the program first aired, but I was brought up short when one of the show\u2019s stars came out with (approximately) these lines: \u201cI don\u2019t like old people. I don\u2019t think they should be allowed to vote. After all, you don\u2019t get to order for the table if you\u2019re about to leave the restaurant.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Clever and funny, right? I laughed, but it also hurt. I know <\/span>SNL<\/span><\/i> sets out to offend virtually everybody and to make us uncomfortable by laying bare our biases, but I didn\u2019t appreciate being reminded that I was about to \u201cleave the restaurant.\u201d What a way to write off older people\u2014to tell them they no longer matter! <\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Saturday Night Live <\/span><\/i>joke was bad enough, but then I came across an ageist ad on YouTube<\/a> not long before the 2018 midterm election. This video infuriated me, even though I understood what the people who made it were trying to do and appreciated how amusing their effort was and how well done. <\/span><\/p>\n

The screen filled again and again with the face of an older man or woman, actors apparently chosen for their ability to look sleek and smug. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDear young people, don\u2019t vote,\u201d the first woman says. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything\u2019s fine the way it is,\u201d a man insists.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrump: that was us,\u201d a different woman confides in a conspiratorial whisper.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s our guy,\u201d a man notes, looking satisfied.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seconds later, a woman scoffs, \u201cClimate change? That\u2019s a you problem. I\u2019ll be dead soon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Someone else complains, \u201cI can\u2019t keep track of which lives matter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Winding up, one of the group predicts disdainfully that \u201cyou won\u2019t vote,\u201d and a man adds with a superior smile, \u201cYou young people never do.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Then one by one, these elders mock the young, bragging that \u201c<\/span>We\u2019re<\/span><\/i> doing great,\u201d and reminding them that \u201cWe\u2019ll be at the polls and you won\u2019t.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The video was created by Acronym, a progressive nonprofit that mounted a multimillion dollar campaign to register new voters ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. The campaign particularly targeted young people, who were considered much less likely to vote in a midterm than those of us who are middle-aged or older. <\/span><\/p>\n

Acronym\u2019s video ad seemed intended to amuse as well as motivate the young, but it played on ageist stereotypes and prejudice against older people. <\/span><\/p>\n

Granted, those stereotypes are so common and so widely accepted that many take them for fact rather than bias. And there <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> some truth to the message: 53 percent of voters 65 and up did cast their ballots for Donald Trump in 2016. <\/span><\/p>\n

But they weren\u2019t the only ones. And this utterly ageist video wasn\u2019t harmless. There were hundreds of comments from viewers, and while a few did point out the ageism, they were digitally shouted down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some who commented failed to see the irony and took the video seriously. One person remarked, \u201cThis is, without a doubt, one of the best ads I have ever seen. It’s so true about old people! \u2026<\/span> This is a perfect example for why nobody should live forever. The only real way to progress and improve our society is for old people to die.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Someone else warned that \u201cthose old people have children, grandchildren who are indoctrinated to believe as they do.\u201d And another person observed, \u201cso they\u2019re voting for things they\u2019re not even gonna be alive for?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I was taken aback by the assumption that older people like me don\u2019t care what happens after we\u2019re gone\u2014to our children, our grandchildren, our country, the planet. <\/span><\/p>\n

Friends in my age group found the Acronym video as upsetting as I did. Such ads wouldn\u2019t be acceptable, even as irony, if they were racist or sexist, but ageist stereotypes go right over most people\u2019s heads. Yet they subtly erode the self-confidence of the elders they stigmatize and reinforce prejudices against us.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Did the ad work\u2014did it send more young people to the polls? After the election, based on exit polling, experts estimated that 31 percent of Americans between 18 and 29 voted in the midterms, up from 21 percent in 2014. That\u2019s an increase of millions of voters. In contests for House seats, about 67 percent of 20-somethings chose Democrats. Their votes may have clinched the results in some tight, key races. <\/span><\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean Acronym\u2019s video ad was worthwhile despite its ageism. It was just one of a number of efforts to bring out the young vote. Survivors of the high school shooting in Parkland, FL, mounted a nationwide voter-registration drive. A live-streamed telethon featuring dozens of celebrities urged young voters to participate. And hugely popular singer\/songwriter Taylor Swift, who is 29 and has 112 million followers on Instagram, also urged her peers to vote. <\/span><\/p>\n

You may be wondering, why object to well-intended humor based on ageist stereotypes when ageism is everywhere anyway? Isn\u2019t that like complaining about a leaky faucet in a house surrounded by flood water? <\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps, but bailing out has to start somewhere. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How should I react when comedians on TV, or organizations I respect, make appallingly ageist jokes? I\u2019m 83, so the joke\u2019s on me. Should I object? I\u2019ve been a fan of Saturday Night Live practically since the program first aired,…<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Is Ageism Ever Funny?<\/span> ›<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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