Rick’s Blog: Planet Old–The Flashpoint to Invisibility

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net

At some point in everyone’s life, they reach a "flashpoint of invisibility" as American society’s ageism brands them alien beings from Planet Old. Regardless of a person’s worth to a big or small business, once the owners or managers see the telltale signs of age on one of their employees, (gray hair, wrinkled neck, et al) their negative cultural programming kicks in, telling them to send this ugly alien to Planet Old, so the employers will not be reminded of the onset of their own aging process.

The truth is: Americans are scared to death of getting old. Thus, seeing old people only reenforces their fear. Commercials that advertise anti-wrinkle creams and plastic surgery by Botox and other procedures are pervasive. Women fear old age more than men because of the stigma of a youth driven society that touts youthful female beauty and shuns old age.
We joke about trophy wives, but when men have money and power, (the ultimate aphrodisiac) women are turned on by it. Avuncular sixty-four year old "unannounced" presidential candidate, Fred Thompson just married a 40 year old femme fatale who loves to show off her cleavage by wearing revealing clothing. Sixty year old actor/comedian Steve Martin just married a thirtysomething woman. Come on, it’s their money and power that attract these young women. Oh well, they’ll keep the company that makes Viagra in business.

Indeed, only in the American culture are the elderly rendered invisible by our society’s fear based policy of sending old people away from our youth obsessed culture. The prevailing wisdom is: "We don’t want old people in the workforce. They should retire and disappear from view." It’s an absurd attitude since older workers have invaluable experience, and as long as they are healthy, they have much to offer any company. Americans have never embraced the wise old sage concept like in Japan and other countries.

In most professions, especially the media, ageism is rampant. Walter Cronkite was forced out because he was "getting long in the tooth." (I hate that expression.) And recently, Stone Phillips’ contract with Dateline was not renewed by NBC for looking older. Media moguls wanted them out when their anchor-men good looks started to fade. God forbid Americans see an old person delivering the news. The viewers might throw up and switch channels. This prejudice is more extreme against women anchors. I call it the grandma stereotype. The way the moguls see it. "We can’t have grandma delivering the news. It’s unseemly."

In the ever changing workplace, there is another factor that drives ageism–natural attrition so that the young employees can move up the latter as the older workers retire. Every year, the universities crank out thousands of new graduates who take entry level jobs. If older employees stay on until their 70s and 80s, the younger employees will be dead-ended. But there is a solution to this dilemma by providing another "senior tier" that allows part time or full time employment for elderly employees who still want to work into their 80s and beyond. This tier would be a separate entity from the chain of command. Case in point: Legendary journalist Studs Terkel had a heart bypass at 93 and went back to work at 94.

As a working senior journalist at 66, I look for societal solutions for this great chasm between the old and young to foster a greater understanding between the generations. Alas, ageism is deeply ingrained on our collective consciousness. It stems from subliminal cultural programming though the barrage of advertising. Consequently, people are not even conscious of their fear of getting old translated into ageism. As long as we are saturated with youth driven multimedia images and negative elder stereotypes, nothing will change.

In contrast, the zeitgeist is getting older because of the approaching baby boomer crossover to Planet Old. This means that it’s in the advertisers best interest to start aiming their ads at a much older demographic. We’re old, we’re smart, and we have plenty of plenty of money to spend. Wake up and smell the green!