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Mitch McConnell escorted away from cameras after freezing during a news conference
(www.nbcnews.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2023
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politics
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proof that old fuckers shouldn't be allowed in politics due to a literally dysfunctioning brain
EDIT: to say 'ageism is bigotry' is a gross oversimplification. I'm not prejudiced against people above a certain age, I'm against the idea of allowing individuals with dementia or other degenerative conditions having political control over other people while literally having impeded brain functioning and judgement.
His birth is closer to Lincoln's assassination and the abolition of serfdom in Russia than to 2023.
I’ve had some relatives reach a very old age and this kind of thing is just part of the territory.
However my aged relatives were not in positions of great power. Neither should this man be.
Feinstein and now McConnell. It shouldn't be necessary but it's now bipartisan proof that maybe we should force people of a certain age into retirement.
I'll happily admit to being ageist. I don't care. Once you hit the mid 70s (arguably earlier) you should be ordered to go the fuck home by Congress.
if it's ageist to say that people can be too old to be in government, then it's definitely ageist to say they can be too young, too.
Imagine having a toddler command the nuclear football. (oh wait. we already had that.)
Unfortunately, ageism in the US is only illegal against older adults. I really struggled with this when I was overseeing young volunteers, one of whom was being treated like crap just because he was young by the older people he was volunteering for. Totally legal for them to outright speak of his age as making him useless (and he was a good worker! and kind!). I was so angry that I couldn't do much of anything to help him.
I don't think it should necessarily be a hard age cap (which is illegal in the US, anyway), but I do think all politicians and judges should have to be able to pass cognitive function tests annually with absolutely no concerns raised by them. I'd require it probably as low as age 50 or 55, because dementia can come early.
And they should not be allowed to choose their own doctors for these exams. They should all see the same handful of doctors, randomly assigned each year, so as to reduce bias.
TBH, I'm ok with ageism, we already do it. It's clear a 6 year old can't run the country, it should be just as clear a 76 year old can't either for the same reasons, mental development stage.
I find it interesting in the US that discriminating against the young is socially acceptable, while discriminating against the elderly is social suicide. Shows how much political power the Boomers wield.
The really annoying part is that I've seen people on the right already telling people to respect his health issues. Except when Biden stumbles over one word he should be removed from power and hospitalized for life. They don't even pretend with the hypocrisy anymore
I worked in congress in 2002 after I graduated. The congressman I worked for was old to me then. I saw him on tv the other day and the guy looked one foot in the grave. I hadn't thought about him in years and then I saw him and I'm like dude wtf why are you still working?! It's shocking.
This is a reminder that Dianne Feinstein is still in office, too. She's not even lucid anymore.
I live how you guys say this, while also demanding Bernie, a fucking dinosaur himself
If there was another candidate who held the same values, but was of a younger age. I’d go for the younger one for sure.
It’s not Bernie because he’s amazing. It’s because he’s the best we got.
Same how I vote for x party, not because they are good. But because they are less bad.
Ageism, like all bigotry, is always wrong.
We limit responsibility for youth, is that bigotry?
No. Bigotry is when you assign a presumption to a group based on a completely unrelated parameter associated with that group. It would not be bigotry to limit the age of those serving in congress. It is bigotry to say that every old person's brain doesn't work.
"proof that old fuckers shouldn't be allowed in politics due to a literally dysfunctioning brain"
So by and large young brains don’t work as well as adult brains. The same is true for the elderly. Your argument makes no sense except you’re biased against the young. During Vietnam would you rather have had Nixon and
Kissinger in charge or some wicked smart 17 year old hippies. I know what most people would choose these days.