{"id":557,"date":"2017-04-04T15:29:24","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T19:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/?p=557"},"modified":"2019-11-30T06:29:35","modified_gmt":"2019-11-30T11:29:35","slug":"too-old-to-be-president-ageism-creates-political-undercurrents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2017\/04\/too-old-to-be-president-ageism-creates-political-undercurrents\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Some People Too Old to Be President?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Journalist Ness White explores the role ageism plays in American politics. She wrote this article for <\/em>Viet Tide Magazine while supported by a Journalists in Aging Fellowship, sponsored by the Silver Century Foundation, as part of a fellowship program created by New American Media (NAM) and the Gerontological Society of America.<\/em> The<\/em> article was posted at NAM\u2019s website on January 5, 2016, and it\u2019s reprinted here with permission. White is a free-lance writer who has been involved in Vietnamese-language media.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ageist comments have been made about two leading 2016 presidential contenders so far\u2014both of whom are older than what is considered to be the middle-aged bracket.<\/p>\n

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 68, a Democrat, has been called \u201ctoo old to run\u201d for president, in the mainstream media. And political independent US Senator Bernie Sanders, 74, of Vermont, has been called an \u201cunlikely white-haired rock star.\u201d  <\/p>\n

\"\"Meanwhile, Republican front-runner and business mogul Donald Trump, 69, has managed to avoid questions based on his age to date, largely because he is so controversial. However, he has not completely escaped the negative perception of him based on his age.<\/p>\n

Trevor Noah on The Daily Show<\/em> mocked his New Year\u2019s Eve appearance on Fox, stating, \u201cDonald Trump is the human embodiment of Times Square: they\u2019re both old, loud, flashy and full of garbage.\u201d Why \u201cold\u201d?<\/p>\n

Negative Attitudes<\/strong><\/p>\n

How Americans view aging was brought up throughout the five-day, 68th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) in Orlando, FL, in November. The event attracted over 4,000 researchers in aging from around the world.<\/p>\n

During one press presentation, for example, the FrameWorks Institute shared a video of street interviews with people who were asked to describe aging. For the most part, they highlighted the negative aspects of aging, focusing on illness and disability.<\/p>\n

The leading presidential candidates in 2016 challenged and perhaps even changed some of the stereotypes about aging.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

GSA\u2019s opening, keynote speaker, Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, brother of Democratic Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, was key in shaping Obamacare policies. He had shared similar\u2014though perhaps extreme\u2014views about aging, particularly the end years. In October 2014, The Atlantic<\/em> published his article, \u201cWhy I Hope to Die at 75,\u201d in which he focused on some of the horrors of care at the end of life and the difficulties he expects might await him as he ages.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoubtless, death is a loss,\u201d he wrote. \u201cLiving too long is also a loss. It renders many of us, if not disabled, then faltering and declining, a state that may not be worse than death but is nonetheless deprived. It robs us of our creativity and ability to contribute to work, society, the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emanuel went on in the article, \u201cWe are no longer remembered as vibrant and engaged but as feeble, ineffectual, even pathetic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interestingly, his view might be challenged by the vast amounts of energy emitted by most of the leading presidential contenders during debates and on the campaign trail. More directly, however, various health journalists, experts and academics have criticized Emanuel\u2019s stance, pointing to the larger issue of how Americans view aging.<\/p>\n

A Different View<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though Emanuel avoided mentioning his provocative ideas in his keynote speech, a panel of experts on aging zeroed in on his negative views of living beyond age 75 and how his ideas reflect US culture, as well as on ways in which to transform such narratives.<\/p>\n

Author Wendy Lustbader<\/a>, a lecturer at the University of Washington\u2019s School of Social Work, said that some of the most important opportunities for growth occur when people are vulnerable, as they age. Further, she added, illness, frailty, disability and the approach of death can be \u201cvehicles for change,\u201d allowing people the opportunity to make sense of the past and make peace with their loved ones.<\/p>\n

Emmanuel\u2019s article, Lustbader said, \u201c[gave] us a catalogue of fear.\u201d She countered his view by adding that the deprivation some people feel when aging can lead to creativity, which \u201cbrings up the needs of the soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Sasser, who chairs the Department of Human Sciences at Marylhurst University in Portland, OR, said what Emanuel described in his piece could really apply to people of any age, as all people are subject to frailty and pain. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to shift consciousness,\u201d said Sasser, who directs Maryhurst\u2019s Gerontology Program. \u201cThis is about being a human being.\u201d <\/p>\n

Expanding on the Positives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Members of the audience contributed their views, some alluding to a fear and anxiety around death that is pervasive in US culture. One woman mentioned that in dictionaries, the word \u201cgeriatric\u201d is defined in negative terms.<\/p>\n

For example, the online Merriam Webster Dictionary<\/em> defines \u201cgeriatrics\u201d as \u201cthe process of growing old and the medical care of old people\u201d and adds the metaphorical definition, \u201cbeing old and outmoded (geriatric airplanes).\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though we might not be able to change those negative terms, Sasser added, we can expand on the positives of aging.<\/p>\n

When it comes to the leading presidential candidates, none are showing signs of decline from old age. Despite what voters might think of their views, these candidates are challenging and maybe even changing some stereotypes about aging.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ageist comments have been made about two leading 2016 presidential contenders so far\u2014both of whom are older than what is considered to be the middle-aged bracket.<\/p>\n

Read more Are Some People Too Old to Be President?<\/span> ›<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

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