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People mentioned in this article are very old.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 81 Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), 90 President Joe Biden, 80 Former President Donald Trump, 77
Not that I agree with an age cap, but respect for elders isn’t really a value among young Americans. Like, we know that the idea that old people are inherently wise is a farce.
I’m sure it’s valued more or less across different sectors of the young American population, but yeah I think it’s pretty widely recognized that our culture doesn’t really treat our elders well. And we should feel ashamed about that.
Nobody is inherently anything, but everything is the way it is for a reason. There’s a reason why respect for one’s elders is a nearly universal maxim, to the extent that it extends beyond our species, and to disregard that ancient principle is to invite disaster. Old people aren’t the problem.
Why are elders deserving of more respect than anyone else? Other than reference to tradition, which was often formed by religion (“respect your elders” is from the bible, old, but not nearly ancient history) which was in turn used to cement power and money in a few old folks running the religion.
Surely the young deserve the same respect as the old, it isn’t like age makes you smarter or better able to handle new situations. It can mean you have wisdom but age alone has no bearing on that.
You can also respect someone but realize that they no longer understand what is going on in the world. I respect my grandfather who flew spy planes during the cold war, then came home and was an anti war activist. Do I think he should run for office today? Absolutely not. Vote? Honestly probably not. He’s certainly not able to make an informed decision anymore. But I will visit him when I can, take care of him as best I can, hear his stories, and learn from those stories as I can.
In this threads context young people don’t get to serve in office or vote but elders get to vote and serve until the day they die. This has directly and indirectly created a feeling of disenfranchisement with young (literally under 50 at this point) folks that shows itself in all aspects of politics.
Your belief is that respecting elders is unique to Christianity? That’s simply and obviously untrue. Painfully so when you compare the way the dominant Christian culture treats its elders compared with how First Nations cultures treat theirs.