Why is ageism still so predominant in a culture that warns of the pitfalls of discrimination?

It isn’t in fluther! I’m 14 and people take me seriously.

I was referring more to things like curfew, which around here is 12:00. Not being allowed to enter R rated movies alone until one is 17.And other such idiosyncrasies.

@breefield, That’s somewhat different than ageism. That is the 80/20 rule, which applies to lots of things. 80% of the rules are made because 20% of teens don’t use common sense. And the rules are made by adults who knew what they were up to at your age.

@aanuszek1:
uh hu, good for you! You typed that just right! Here’s a gold star, and a lolly-pop for all your hard work!

Hehehe, you know I am kidding.

As for my option? I agree with AlfredaPrufrock. It only takes one idiot to screw everything up for everyone. Although I would put the ratio more like 80/100: 80% of the rules are made, because 100% of teens don’t use common sense. But then again, I live next to a high school and am totally biassed against all teenagers for that.

I’m with Alfreda. We know what kind of crap teenagers pull. We pulled it before you were born.

If you want to be an adult, you’ll have to wait until you are adult aged, or become an emancipated minor.

I think it is worse now, thanks to 2 things:
Youtube and Jackass.

Real ageism is when you are laid off at 60 and can’t find a job (despite your impressive credentials) because the folks interviewing you figure you’re going to retire in a couple of years anyway.

@cprevite
That’s what I’ve always understood ageism to be.

When people warn about the pitfalls of discrimination, in my experience it’s usually discrimination against the type of person doing the talking. They also generally reserve the right to discriminate against all those other nasty groups, though.

Ageism is discrimination based on age. We find ageism against the young acceptable on a wider level because adults are charged with the task of protecting children. That’s just how it rolls. We don’t let kids make choices about what movies they see unless their parents approve (which, btw, isn’t a law or anything, it’s a rule that movie theaters made up), we make them wait to drive until hopefully they’ve got some sense in their heads, the point of this ageism is to protect and educate.

And if you complain about that kind of ageism you must also be complaining that it is illegal for a consenting 12 year old to have sex with a consenting 50 year old. Because the only thing we find wrong about it is the ages involved. Unless you are willing to give that there is something about a 12 year old that means they can’t fully make those decisions. In which case there must be other decisions they can’t make.

The real problem with ageism in this country is discrimination against the elderly. It is almost impossible for them to get jobs, when they do it is the greeter at WalMart. Why? Because we’ve practically institutionalized a form of ageism that doesn’t take into account expanding life times, the improvements in mental health later in life, and other advances of medicine and science.