: I always enjoy André Picard’s column, but I didn’t today. I can’t understand this fuss about ageism and, since I am 77, I feel I have a right to speak up. I think most of us older than 70 would be more than happy to give up our ventilator to someone younger. In fact, I fancy, if it were possible, many of us in good health would donate our lives to the doctors and nurses who have succumbed to the virus in the course of duty.
Our generation has had the easiest time of it in all history. I don’t think it’s the elderly who are making a fuss – it’s their families, and it has more to do with political correctness than human rights. We all have to die. And, yes, families will and should grieve. It might help them to find a book about war and contemplate the grief of parents for sons, children for fathers, men returning home to find their families wiped out by a bomb.Hello, world! I am 75 and still here. Still vertical.
The term elderly now has connotations that have spoiled any hope of it being a purely descriptive term. It summons a picture of frailty and dependency. Some people are frail and dependent. Call them people in need of care.Story continues below advertisement Some years ago, before I became “elderly” at the age of 65, I was the CBC language adviser for radio, television and online. Reminders were regularly sent to writers to use words without baggage, and to use language that is descriptive but doesn’t carry judgment. We need to find language that doesn’t see older adults as “them” and not “us.” So how about saying older people, older adults or even mature adults?Stratford, Ont.
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GlobeDebate No way should we sell out our freedom and Canadian way of life. Any media who would propose this is full of shit.
GlobeDebate Yes great idea. Communism will fix everything! 🙄