ROTHENBURGER – Captain Kirk fires a broadside at pervasive cultural ageism

Shatner’s amazing accomplishment was about much more than show business or scientific advancement or even humanity’s hopes and dreams, as some are saying. His advanced age and his ability to go through the rigors of the training and actual journey were a statement on behalf of an entire generation.

It’s a generation that is too often dismissed as a useless encumbrance on society, that’s routinely characterized as not worth listening to because they’re too frail or simply out of touch.

Seniors, according to those who are not yet seniors, don’t own smartphones because they don’t know how to use them. They supposedly don’t use Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or other social media vehicles because their brains are stalled firmly in the horse-and-buggy days.

Yep, society is saddled with looking after them; they’re nothing but “a drain” on those “hard-earned tax dollars.”

There’s a word for that kind of thinking, and it’s “ageism.” That particular “ism” is every bit as despicable as racism or homophobia or any other kind of intolerance based on who people are rather than what they do or have done. The difference is that there’s an assumption out there that it’s somehow culturally OK to openly belittle anyone with grey hair.

It’s not. Seniors know more than a little about hard work and hardship. Whatever success young people enjoy would have been impossible without old people.

William Shatner’s brief but brave journey yesterday was a firm rebuke to all those who write off the older generation as unworthy or incapable.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

by Mel Rothenburger

ROTHENBURGER – Captain Kirk fires a broadside at pervasive cultural ageism

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