How Not To Shoot Old People
Great title of a book!
“How ugly is ageism in the United States? It is a system of unseen suffering with sometimes deadly consequences.”
These quotes are from a piece in the LA Review of Books by Margaret Morganroth Gullette (whose new book “The Hidden Assaults of Ageism, or, How Not To Shoot Old People” will be published in 2017.
Her short article is pretty depressing — at least at first: she discusses mortality, chronic diseases, the meager payout of social security (“Does she eat every day?”), the fact that the United States ranks 50th country in the world in life expectancy … oy!
I quote from her section on workplace ageism — a/k/a workplace age discrimination:
“There’s a job-discrimination against midlife people – or what I call ‘middle ageism’ – not just in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but on Main Street. Sixty-four percent of Americans 45 to 74 years old have seen or experienced ageism in the workplace [Yikes!], AARP tells us. It’s illegal but expected everywhere. The cult of youth overrides the law.”
Age (i.e., older workers) is a protected class that we will all (hopefully) enter and we all hope to enter — I think. Read this article — it’s not all depressing, and, in fact, there are many serious suggestions which might change your mind about aging — or at least about ageism.
Think I’ll buy the book when it comes out.
