A woman at a recent Trump rally asked “Why aren’t we putting our military retirees on that border or in TSA? Get rid of all these heeby jobbies they wear at TSA?” Trump didn’t correct her, either by clarifying that the word was “hijabis,” nor that the question mark at the end of the sentence should have been a period. Instead, he answered her by announcing that 16,500 TSA agents had endorsed him and added that this was the first time TSA agents had endorsed a presidential candidate in the entire history of the world.
While Trump’s answer no doubt provided fascinating dinner conversation in homes across the planet, it did nothing to alleviate the growing concern Life in the Boomer Lane that the planet is turning into a heated up (both temperature-wise and tolerance-wise) version of its former self. What is causing this? Unfortunately for LBL and zillions of boomers like her, Vox has the answer: We are.
According to Vox, “social science tells us that older people tend to be more conservative than the young. Indeed, Brexit raises a big — and disturbing — question: Are we all destined to become more prejudiced, cantankerous shadows of our former selves one day?” In other words, is the world just one big cranky retiree who yells at little kids who ride bikes across his lawn?
Various studies have shown that, while basic personality may stay pretty much the same over time (bad news for young assholes), there is a definite skew toward the right as we age. LBL, herself, has noticed that she has made the shift from spontaneous stupid decisions when she was young (Let’s stand on the street in Greenwich Village and beg beds-for-the-night from random people passing by) to well-considered stupid decisions as she aged (Let’s buy EuroDisney stock and watch it plummet to zero and then go out of business) .
Vox states that “one reason for these personality changes may be that as we age, we have an increased ‘need for closure,’ which is the desire to minimize uncertainty and ambiguity.”
Immigration, the massive, unwanted elephant in the living room of our planet, is a great example. Older people may recognize the need to extend ourselves to that part of humanity that is fleeing from life-threatening turmoil in their home countries. But, according to Vox, “We have found that older adults who try to prevent stereotypes from influencing their judgment typically find that they rely on them more and more as they age. … Aging will tend to make many people more negatively disposed toward immigration.”
Huffington Post reports that two-thirds of Brits voted in favor of Brexit. And, for many Brits, Brexit was a way less to control their economy than it was to control immigration. Brexit was, in effect, a WWE match between millennial and boomers. And according to UK Telegraph, “Millennial fury over baby boomers’ vote for Brexit.”
What can we take away from all this? Like most of LBL’s posts, not much. But, on the other hand, we can become more aware that some of our decisions may be influenced more by a lifetime of stereotypes and a need for someone to “make us safe” than by a desire to do what really benefits us all.
We have to be alert that we are not being influenced by the fear-mongering of certain unnamed politicians, who themselves pose a greater threat to us than the people they warn us about. In other words, we may spend so much time yelling at kids to stay off our lawn that we forget to pay attention to our own pet dog who is dropping massive poops all over the lawn.
Plath
July 5, 2016
blockquote, div.yahoo_quoted { margin-left: 0 !important; border-left:1px #715FFA solid !important; padding-left:1ex !important; background-color:white !important; } Proud to be 68 and part of the 13%Xo
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 6, 2016
Sorry I couldn’t read most of the comment, but bravo for the end!
Andrew Reynolds
July 5, 2016
I did find it interesting that as we age the number of ‘young outsiders’ declines. But shouldn’t there be a category for ‘old outsider’? I started feeling old when I turned 16 and it’s just been getting worse.
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 6, 2016
16, wow. Maybe when you hit 70, it will start going in the opposite direction.
balletandboxing
July 5, 2016
Change that hashtag from #humour to #wisdom.
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 6, 2016
🙂
Keith
July 5, 2016
Renee, terrific post and great analogy. The UK, if they do in fact Brexit, will likely have the pleasure of governing a smaller UK, with 59% of Scots ready to bolt the UK and the Northern Irish looking to follow suit. I am sad for my British friends as they have made their influence smaller in the world, as global companies need to revisit the existence of their Europe HQs in the UK.
It reminds me of post I wrote on the dueling bumper stickers “Coexist” and “Capitalist” I see in the states. They are not opposites and in fact, we make more money by coexisting than retrenching. Commerce breaks down barriers and leads to growth. Those anti-globalists need to consider all of the foreign based companies who have manufacturing plants in our country and the vast number of jobs those create.
Speaking of bumper stickers, most of our solutions to problems cannot be boiled down to a bumper sticker. The issues of declining middle class, increased poverty and reduced manufacturing jobs are complex and require a multitude of well-thought out solutions. And, we need to consider real data and not made up data as one of our candidates is prone to do.
Sorry for the soapbox, Keith
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 6, 2016
It’s a good soapbox, Keith. Globalization doesn’t depend on one’s participation in it to be a fact of modern life. Climate change doesn’t depend on people to believe in it in order for it to continue its relentless advances. And a candidate may win an election by spewing falsehoods, but subsequent events will most likely prove otherwise. We pay a hefty price for all of this warping of reality. Those little chickens do come home to roost, don’t they.
Keith
July 6, 2016
Renee, they do, but people’s memories are short. My wife and I watched “Suffragette” the other night, and to see leaders step on people to keep the status quo, is appalling. That happened here and then it continued to happen with African-Americans and still is to a lesser extent. Now, it is happening due to fear mongering and demonization to Muslims Americans, Latin Americans and LGBT Americans. It is the same kind of thinking that giving others rights is something we should be afraid of. We need to shine a spotlight on these kind of fear mongerers and certainly not vote for them. Keith
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 6, 2016
I know. I read an article recently about our diminishing attention spans, due to technology. And our memory of events and what is learned in school is appalling. The combination means we no longer learn lessons about anything. One third of Americans have no idea what the Holocaust was. We live in the moment, with no perspective on what is going on around us. There are zillions of articles about the lies Trump tells and the underhanded business practices that made him millions at the expense of others, but a new poll shows that voters consider Trump more honest and trustworthy than Hillary. It doesn’t matter that the FBI concludes that no charges should be brought against Hillary. Now Trump gets to scream that she is guilty and the system is rigged. And people will shake their heads and agree. How does one deal with this? I, for one, don’t know. I get so frustrated and scared about all this that I have to stop watching the news.
Keith
July 7, 2016
And, it should be noted he is the one with three active class action court cases against him for alleged misrepresentation by him and Trump University. This man’s history is exploiting people for money. He will get his, but whether you get your money is irrelevant to him. He is pulling the biggest con job on the Republican party and other Americans I have witnessed in my fifty-seven years.
Judy
July 5, 2016
It’s interesting that Canada, with aging population, has been more open to immigration, accepting greater numbers of Syrian refugees, etc.
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 6, 2016
True dat. Canada has been a bit influenced by its low population density. But they are certainly to be applauded.
John
July 5, 2016
There is a famous quote which has been attributed to about 4,000 people which basically says (and I am paraphrasing because the quote has many versions and is attributed to, you know, about 4,000 people). Anyway, it goes something like this (and I am using quotation marks because America!): “If you are not a liberal when young (varies from the womb to 25 years old) you have no heart. If you are a liberal when older (30 to death) you have no head.” It remains a mystery what you are missing between 25-30 based on your political ideology.
Apologies for the overuse of parenthesis.
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 6, 2016
I remember that quote, John. As for the 25-30 time span, maybe that’s when people are completely focused on finding mates and have no time for political ideology. Parentheses are great (I’m a fan, myself).
John
July 6, 2016
Maybe 25-30 is when you lose your soul. 😉
I’m joking, of course. Well, maybe.
Taswegian1957
July 5, 2016
I may be bucking the trend and becoming more liberal with age as when I was young I tended to vote for the party of right and now have become firmly a left wing voter. What changed me? As a young person I thought as long as I could work and pay my way I’d be alright. I always believed that the vulnerable should be taken care of and that we should take in refugees and look after the environment. As years went on I started to feel that the right wing party was not doing any of those things very well. The final thing that changed me was an election where the major issue was asylum seekers. I couldn’t vote for people who were so careless of human lives and I wll never vote for haters. So now I am an old leftie.
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 6, 2016
Interesting. I’d say that your heart was always in the right place, no matter your political affiliation. I was a liberal, then an independent for many years. W cured me of that. Now I’m a liberal, again.
Taswegian1957
July 6, 2016
I think our right wing party has moved further to the right in recent years. At one time there seemed less difference between them.
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 7, 2016
Agreed. politicians used to argue, then go out and play golf together. Now they just shut down the government.
Little Voice
July 6, 2016
excellent post. But I think I am becoming more liberal as I age. Once a conservative, now I’m a strong Hillary fan.
Life in the Boomer Lane
July 6, 2016
Your wisdom is taking over. But, to give conservatives a break, I totally respect anyone of any political persuasion, who has come to conclusions after research and thought. I have issues with those who spout what they hear on talk radio or read online or worse, parrot what they hear others say.