Second50Years Marketing Blog

We don’t like ageism of any kind anywhere but we found this NYTimes article to be a fairly well-balanced look at the seemingly irresistible ageist jokes created by the presidential candidacy of John McCain.

It is unfortunate that, since gender jokes and racist jokes are off limits this campaign season, comedians feel age is fair game. It seems odd too since everyone will get old so isn’t the joke even on the person making the joke? Maybe that is why we let people get away with it…it is like an “inside” joke that we all share.

Luckily, McCain has a good sense of humor and is doing much to defuse the shenanigans of Jay Leno and his comedic brotherhood and sisterhood. McCain is following the path so gently and humorously laid out by Ronald Reagan when he was running for president at a slightly younger age than McCain.

Here is a video of a McCain spoof. We would embed it here but don’t want to give it any more viral authority than necessary.

The NY Times article points out, however, that older voters may have their revenge come November:

Anyway, oldsters might have the last laugh. Even though the youth turnout has been huge in the primaries, the over-65 vote is traditionally twice as large at election time, said Curtis Gans, director of the nonpartisan Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University. If turnout is as high this year as some people project, it could be a record year for the older voting bloc. “They do have power over public policy,” Mr. Gans said. “They’re the ones that vote the most.”

What do you think of the torrent of jokes about age this year? Should we be up in arms or let it go? Younger people are likely to wonder what the big deal is. For us oldsters, it is a question of do we wish to scream? or play the “wise elder” card?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.

Other opinions:
Time Goes By, a blog by Ronnie Bennett