General Discussion
Showing Original Post only (View all)Why is ageism suddenly all the rage on DU? [View all]
I'm a young guy myself, but frankly I just don't get it. Not every older person, no matter their race, is backwards or worthy of contempt. Do older people TEND to be less progressive on many social issues? Of course they are, I'm a gay person so gay marriage is an issue close to my heart (still can't marry the man I love in my state of birth btw!). There is no denying the fact that 42% of 65 or older people support gay marriage compared to 78% of 18-29 year olds.
You know what I think when I see that "Wow, 42% of people who grew up in a incredibly homophobic society where they were literally taught to fear gay people and consider them often no better than monsters support gay marriage". That is an incredible transformation in our society and something we should be collectively proud of our seniors for making. I would also like to point out that that change was most certainly not accomplished by being a raging stereotyping jerk to them.
I feel pretty confident in saying that nearly everyone on DU believes in the core issues of social justice. Nearly to a man/woman I think we believe that people deserve to be treated as individuals and not judged as part of a greater whole that they may not necessarily share key attributes with. When we talk about ideological minefields like affirmative action, reparations and rape culture (social issues off the top of my head that I see DU regularly tearing itself apart over), is it too much to ask that we keep in mind that nearly everyone here is infact a good guy who wants society to be as fair as possible to as many people as possible?