Just as sexism seemed to be the cross that Clinton claimed she bore during that LONG brutal primary, and racism the challenge that Obama weathered, so ageism is creeping into the comments about McCain's campaign. In particular, blatant ageism surfaces often in DailyKos posts lately. The latest derogatory comments made in "playful jest," using the Dead Sea Scrolls as the parameter for McCain's age and referrals to the yellowness of his teeth, once more point out and emphasize another form of intolerance rampant in our society. A society that believes that any person not young and beautiful is essentially defective.
I am an Obama supporter and have been from the get-go. Since most of the posters and commentators on DailyKos buy into the baseline Obama message--inclusivity and tolerance--an examination of latent ageism bias ought to be de rigueur therefore.
Martin Luther King had it right when he emphatically stated that he dreamed of the day, in reference to his children, that one day they would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." Paraphrasing that, we should all dream of the day when we examine all people for their charcater and their spirit and their ideas, not the color of their skin, their gender, their nationality, their ethnic background, OR their age.
Stereotyping, defined as "an oversimpfified opinion, prejudiced attitude, or uncritical judgment" by Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, should no longer be part of this presidential election. Naive thought, maybe.
In other words, enough about McCain's age. Stop. Now.
Let's discuss the very real policy differences between McCain and Obama, policy differences that mean compassion for the poor versus the usual thought that anyone can make in American if they show the right driving ambition. One might possess all the right innate ambition to succeed in monetary and educational endeavors, but if circumstances prevent that success exist--circumstances like substandard schools, uneducated parents, lack of money, paltry libraries, and so on--then it is easy to give up and become the stereotype that so many Americans tout about their fellow Americans. Lazy, worthless, and never going to amount to anything. Under this Republican administration, this mean-spirited attitude has taken on the aura of rigid dogma. The truth is that if every American had the infrastructural support that so many wealthy and middle-class Americans have--good schools, excellent teachers, loving and involved parents, knowledge because of easily accessible libraries, computer savvy, well then the scenario in front of us would be hugely different.
A staunch Republican friend asked me the other day, "Well, who's going to pay for all that?" My answer to her was this: Any country that can afford to fritter away over $4,500 a SECOND for a war, like the one we're losing in Iraq, ought to be able to invest instead in its future, its young people and families.
That's what we need to examine, ways to make the United States the land of true opportunity--NOT what color John McCain's teeth are or comparing his birth cerificate to the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Knock off the ageism, the sexism, and the racism. Stop the labeling and stereotyping. We've got bigger problems to address.
Update: This is not to say that age should not be exmained as an issue, just as race or sex might be in certain circumstances. All three are natural states of life--things that cannot be changed by willing it so. Yes, voters are also scrutinizing Obama's age. And yes, McCain's age and health should be addressed, just not in any negative, intolerant manner. Jokes about age are not any less offensive than jokes about sex or race.