It's the Wrinklies wot done it!
I have noticed recently that the idea that old people are ruining things for the young is being increasingly pushed during the current crisis.
Blaming the wrinklies for the woes of the young has been rumbling on for a few years, and curiously enough it isn't the 'young' - ie anyone under 30 - who are doing the arguing. Indeed, I have discussed this with many of my young friends, and they have all dismissed the notion, sometimes offering up the same arguments I had prepared to convince them. I will return to them later in this post.
Instead this idea is promulgated by middle aged and older folks, mainly on the right or left wing fringes of the intellectual spectrum. Why do they do this, and why now increasingly so? Why this mustard keenness to stab an entire generation in the back and divide the nation? Since it is not a notion that stands up to close questioning, why is it being pushed?
With regard to the individuals who argue for it, they probably have a multitude of reasons. A guilty conscience for having had a good and, as they see it, undeserved good life, an erroneous comparison of the past with the present, selective memory, and a desire to make a name for themselves by making inflammatory statements, have probably all contributed.
With regard to those who give column inches and talk show time to such views, I think they do it to deflect the public's attention from the real villains, and thus protect the special interests that they serve.
Corona Crisis
Take the current crisis.
(1) It is not the old people who demanded / decided to shut down the country to 'protect the old and vulnerable' - it is the government.
(2) About a third of the young have health issues that make them vulnerable to not just death, but also serious illness that may leave them long-term impaired, from the Corona virus.
(3) The situation has been made worse by governmental mismanagement:
(a) An NHS starved of resources, and undermined by various re-organisations
(b) An initial laissez faire approach to the disease which allowed the virus to spread
(c) A refusal to participate in EU ventilator sourcing project for ideological reasons
(d) A continuing penny-pinching with regard to PPE, that has cost lives
(e) Impoverishing the population, many of whom have inadequate housing and income
(f) Enabling greed and selfishness, which undermined social cohesion
(g) An ideological approach to problems, rather than a practical one
(h) Allowing fools to occupy important positions for party political reasons
(i) Applying different standards to Toffs & Co versus the plebs
(j) Complete the list with your own examples, as appropriate!
THUS, the government and its enablers are in dire need for a scapegoat. Not just for the current mess, but even more so for the Brexit Hard Exit situation they are continuing to prepare for, in the teeth of all reason and practicality.
Since they can't really blame the EU for their mismanagement of the corona crisis (not to say they won't try), they are throwing shade on China (which is deserved but fraught with danger, since they need China as a trading partner) and on those who can't fight back - the old and infirm.
The young have always been exploited and given a raw deal. Who do the fighting and dying in the wars? The young. Who do the hard physical labour? The young. Who risk life and limb giving birth to future generations? The young. Who get paid the lowest wages? The young. It was ever thus.
(j) Complete the list with your own examples, as appropriate!
THUS, the government and its enablers are in dire need for a scapegoat. Not just for the current mess, but even more so for the Brexit Hard Exit situation they are continuing to prepare for, in the teeth of all reason and practicality.
Since they can't really blame the EU for their mismanagement of the corona crisis (not to say they won't try), they are throwing shade on China (which is deserved but fraught with danger, since they need China as a trading partner) and on those who can't fight back - the old and infirm.
However - Before blaming older generations, you may want to consider the following
The young have always been exploited and given a raw deal. Who do the fighting and dying in the wars? The young. Who do the hard physical labour? The young. Who risk life and limb giving birth to future generations? The young. Who get paid the lowest wages? The young. It was ever thus.
But .... everyone who is old now was young once, and equally exploited, and usually worse. The ancients currently in the stocks for being greedy were caned in schools, got their first job when 14, did not go to university, had no access to birth control or divorce so frequently 'had to marry' and got trapped in bad marriages, lacked many of the luxuries we nowadays take for granted (internet access, employment protection, health & safety - yes, protection from exposure to asbestos, for example, is so worth it!, all year round special foods, multiple holidays abroad, etc etc). I could go on, but you get the point.
Instead you may want to consider WHO has always done this exploiting? Hint - it was not the older generation as a whole. It was those in power, who usually exploit us all more or less equally. Just because most of those in power are older, doesn't mean that THE OLD as a group rule the country for their own benefit!
The older you get the more you have accumulated. Seems obvious - if someone has worked and earned for 50 years their chances of having accumulated enough to have a nice house and pension are a lot higher than those of your average 30 year old. Comparing the material circumstances of the old and young who currently live in the same country, and concluding that the young are disadvantaged, is disingenuous. The comparison should be between what the ones who are old now had when they were young, and what the ones who are young now have. The current young generation is better off, in my opinion.
The older you get the more you have accumulated. Seems obvious - if someone has worked and earned for 50 years their chances of having accumulated enough to have a nice house and pension are a lot higher than those of your average 30 year old. Comparing the material circumstances of the old and young who currently live in the same country, and concluding that the young are disadvantaged, is disingenuous. The comparison should be between what the ones who are old now had when they were young, and what the ones who are young now have. The current young generation is better off, in my opinion.
Lastly .... When people are young, most of them have a healthy body. The older one gets, the harder it is to feel the joys that come from having a healthy body. The senses dull or even disappear. I lost my sense of smell about five years ago, and the world has become duller. No more smelling of flowers, savouring subtle nuances of food, feeling comforted by the smells that go with favourite friends and relations. And no more avoiding spoilt foods - I have a lot more food poisoning now than when I was able to smell things. The same goes for the other senses, of course, and the rest of the body - what was easy and natural when one was young, because increasingly an effort and a chore as one ages.
To make up for this declining body, one has to spend money. In my case, I throw away a lot of food that is probably perfectly alright, because I cannot detect whether or not it is safe to eat.
When your senses dull. live becomes duller, and you have to turn up the volume, to still get some joy of it. That is why people need more money when they grow older.
And as aging accelerates, there are medical and mobility issues, and grieving for one's ailing body is overshadowed by mourning the loss of one's relatives and friends, who drop off the perch, one by one.
Being poor is OK when you are young and healthy - it certainly was for me. But being poor when you are old and decrepit is not OK.
I appreciate that most of the young folk I know appreciate this.
I am not, by the way, complaining - growing older is a heck of a lot better than the alternative!
