It’s the last tolerated prejudice. But Femail’s had enough. It’s time we called out those day-to-day moments when we’re patronised for no longer being young…
Who is the latest recipient of the Everyday Ageism Award Award? Elon Musk. ‘Let’s set an age limit after which you can’t run for political office,’ he tweeted recently. ‘Perhaps a number just below 70.’
Musk is the master provocateur of course — which is why he was recently named Time Magazine’s Person Of The Year — but you can see how that’s not going to resonate in a country where the current president is 79.
Christa D’Souza (pictured), says that many people around the world wouldn’t mind publicly supporting Elon Musk’s idea of a limit on age for candidates for public office.
Are Biden and the United States of America fit to be in office? That’s not the point here. The point is the amount of people worldwide who wouldn’t be embarrassed at publicly agreeing with Musk. As flawed as we all are, it’s perfectly okay to poke fun at people because they are older than you.
When his Twitter sparring partner Senator Bernie Sanders, 80, demanded that extremely wealthy Americans like himself pay proper taxes, Musk’s response was: ‘I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.’
If, say, I am offending people for saying ‘breastfeeding’ instead of ‘chestfeeding’ or admitting in public that I stand with J K Rowling (and this applies to me when the kids are over), how can that be right? Isn’t it time for us to be more wistful?