Ageism is generally defined as the prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of one’s age. That this phenomenon is popular among people is no surprise owing to two doubtless facts: One, that humans discriminate on the basis of almost anything and everything possible; two, that every age group serves a different purpose in society and when this happens, though unnecessarily but still somehow, one job always trumps the other, causing a lethal superiority-inferiority combination in society. Should these two factors be a part of mainstream society? Certainly not. But are they rampant among masses? Yes.
From ages 0-12 years, toddlers and young adults are least affected by this particular kind of discrimination.
Yet, already a burden on the state, children are often considered liabilities due to their dependence and the amount of time, attention and finances they require.
Working mothers are often seen complaining about their young adults instead of blaming their uncooperative husbands.
They tend to forget that children are not brought in this world by their own will, they are brought in this world by their parents.
They begin to mold their free minds into conformist opinions ending up to standard and average children with no thinking power of their own whatsoever.
Because when they are being brought up with so much hard work, they will be returned that investment to pay for it.
In antagonism to the foregoing, ageism against teenagers is much more vocal as it is considered much more acceptable in society.
There is a stereotypical image of the average teenager: hip clothing, phone in hand, lazy and either uninterested or a rebel without a cause.
Teenagers stemming from families that allow even the miniscule liberty of thought are freedom-loving, tolerant and most importantly, extremely socially aware.
Just like in any other age group, there are also teenagers who seem uninterested or largely unmotivated but that has less to with their age and more to do with their individual personalities.
The most immediate future of any society, teenagers are the doctors and poets in making.
Throughout their childhood, they are protected from external elements and then suddenly, they are expected to grow up to be responsible adults and thrown into a world they know nothing about except all they learnt in textbooks.
From the ages of 60 and onwards, more accurately after retirement, people go back to being considered a burden and painful responsibility.
While less socially acceptable and worded, it is a common practice of adults to become frustrated with those who are dependent on them at home.
This is the discarded heap of society, the machinery that has expired and does not pay any more, the cost of which has outran the efficiency.
Hospital bills, attention-seeking behavior and lack of work make them liable to be looked down upon and even sometimes sent to old age homes where they yearn for those they worked for and those they love.
Also Read:
Does Beauty Defines the Aesthetic Value of Art?
“All the world’s a stage”, William Shakespeare had said. And it indeed is. It is at the age of 40 that humans begin to think of their struggle and derive wisdom out of it.
Except when they do so, they indulge in extremely ageist behaviors.
Because adults are the group of people that mainly work to sustain the world, it pushes them to think of it as a favor upon the rest of society.
Thus, it is natural that they work in conditions worse than those to come. If after you, you have not made the world better, you have wronged the human race.
And if your work has rendered us all some service, it is a duty, not a favor.
It is simply the same argument that is put forth when adults are asked why having children is important: all we do, we do for the furthering and sustaining of the human race after us.
Ageism is not positive criticism, nor is it encouragement. It is simply a prejudice, a denial of one’s own past and future.
It is a hefty form of disrespect and hatred and above all, it is all of us forgetting that without each other, we are nothing.