海角大神

A year of intense concern about the fitness of older national leaders to serve, culminating in President Joe Biden pulling out of the White House race, has surfaced what experts on aging see as a snowballing and largely unchallenged expression of the ageism that permeates American culture.

It鈥檚 not that the public is uniformly skeptical of octogenarians, like Mr. Biden. From politicians to business leaders and pop stars, many figures of older age enjoy wide acceptance as they continue to campaign, invest, and rock on. But gerontological advocates and scientists say public perceptions of older people are far too often anchored in unfair assumptions about the meaning of a numerical age, or about a slowing body equating with being slower of mind.聽

And those who study aging say that鈥檚聽increasingly noticeable in public discourse.聽

For example, pressure for Mr. Biden to withdraw probably had more to do with changing perceptions of his capabilities than with how many times he鈥檚 circled the sun. But the proliferation of the words 鈥渢oo old鈥� in headlines, memes, political polling, comedy routines, and social media became ageist shorthand.聽Indeed, Mr. Biden himself bought into the shorthand in his Democratic convention speech Monday:聽 鈥淣ow I鈥檓 too old to stay as president.鈥�

鈥淭oo old,鈥� aging experts say, is a stereotype as unjust and incorrect as generalizations about race or gender. Except race and gender discrimination is widely unacceptable, while ageism is the 鈥渓ast acceptable prejudice.鈥� And it equates chronological age with poor health, which in turn fans fears of growing older.

Yet even some of those who see rampant ageism 鈥� and its cousin 鈥渁bleism,鈥� with biases about disability 鈥� also see opportunity in the current moment.

鈥淚 personally think unless you see [ageism], you鈥檙e not going to do anything about it,鈥� says Tracey Gendron, a gerontologist at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of 鈥淎geism Unmasked.鈥� 鈥淪o, the positive here is that it raises awareness that ageism and ableism are freely floating throughout society.鈥�

Monitor conversations with a half-dozen professionals studying the physical, mental, and social aspects of aging echoed Dr. Gendron鈥檚 dismay and hope.

Ageism is at least an increasingly familiar word. But Dr. Gendron says, 鈥淭his whole conversation around politics has really set us back a step or two. Because you鈥檙e seeing so much more rhetoric about 鈥榯oo old.鈥欌��

Paul Kleyman, a journalist who has聽monitored ageism in the media for decades, dates the beginning of the spike in ageist rhetoric to the 鈥渓egitimate worries鈥� about the health of the late California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, which 鈥渢urned speculative about other older members of Congress with no medical basis.鈥�

鈥淭hose of us concerned about unanswered ageism in American culture watched the narrative load to a trigger point since early 2022, as we鈥檝e not witnessed before. The Biden debate [performance] to me was a match to a kindling pile,鈥� he says.

To some, the shift is that ageism has become more visible, not necessarily more widespread.

鈥淚鈥檓 not sure ageism itself is on the increase. I think we鈥檙e paying more attention to what鈥檚 been there all along, and that Biden鈥檚 frailty supercharged the issue,鈥� observes 鈥淭his Chair Rocks鈥� author and activist Ashton Applewhite.聽

How unchallenged ageism damages the public conscience

A World Health Organization report in 2018 targeted ageism as a pervasive global problem 鈥� 鈥渟ocially accepted and usually unchallenged.鈥� Its effects, said the WHO, reverberate through economies in added health care costs and lost job opportunities, and it damages the public conscience of older and younger populations who internalize negative age beliefs.

The American gerontology field has understood this and worked assiduously in recent years to scientifically 鈥渞eframe鈥� aging positively.

Among problems these experts focus on are the effects of age segregation, from solitary isolation to grouping in islands of over-age-55 developments; and the antiaging 鈥� or 鈥渁gainst aging鈥� 鈥� health and beauty culture that pitches fear of growing older, even creating the 鈥淪ephora kids鈥� tween market for wrinkle serums.

Some keep an eye on issues of fairness in such things as mandatory retirement or certifications for older people to drive or perform their work, and all concern themselves with how broadcasts of ageism are internalized among old and young alike.

Political reporting often 鈥渙ff the mark鈥� over the past year

Politics have been the source of an 鈥渙utbreak of ageism,鈥� says James Appleby, CEO of the Gerontological Society of America, who, like his colleagues, spends much time managing misconceptions. 鈥淲e get so comfortable with [stereotypes] that we never actually see what we鈥檙e doing. But for the [gerontological] community, a widespread feeling now is, 鈥榃ow, can you believe how off the mark some of the reporting can be?鈥欌��

Intense focus in the past year on struggling older politicians like the late Senator Feinstein, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and President Biden often conflated their chronological age with missteps, physical appearance, and questions of health and cognition. With Mr. Biden, age 81, out of the race now, there鈥檚 evidence the age focus is being turned on former President Donald Trump, age 78. CNN commentator and former Obama White House adviser David Axelrod said before Mr. Biden鈥檚 convention speech, 鈥淣ow the worn-out old incumbent is Donald Trump.鈥�

And this all keeps aging professionals busy, repeating their singular mantra in interviews and op-eds: 鈥淚f you鈥檝e seen one 80-year-old, you鈥檝e seen one 80-year-old.鈥�

The point, explains antiageism author Ms. Applewhite, is that 鈥渢he defining characteristic of aging is heterogeneity. ... There are as many ways to be 80 as there are 80-year-olds.鈥�

That diversity is overlooked when the term 鈥渢oo old鈥� is used to collapse aging 鈥渋nto a set of clich茅s and tropes,鈥� explains Brian Carpenter, professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a stand-in for other things that I think they鈥檙e really concerned about, which is capability, cognition, energy, vitality.鈥�

But, he adds, 鈥淚t takes a lot more mental effort to think about a person鈥檚 experience, or their connections to world leaders, or their prior experience managing a crisis. It鈥檚 just harder for people to evaluate our candidates on those much more complex, abstract principles.鈥澛�

Likewise, in political polling, experts say questions that lead voters to consider a candidate through the age lens are ageist because they misleadingly equate age with capability. An ABC News poll in early July by Langer Research Associates, for example, directly asked if respondents thought either, both, or neither of the presidential candidates was 鈥渢oo old鈥� for a second term. Fully 58% responded 鈥渂oth.鈥� (Neither the polling firm nor ABC responded to interview requests.)

鈥淭hat鈥檚 not an informative way of framing the question, and it implies that there鈥檚 something useful about knowing someone鈥檚 chronological age, which really isn鈥檛 very valuable when evaluating someone鈥檚 leadership capabilities,鈥� asserts Dr. Carpenter.聽

A catalyst for deeper conversations

There is the possibility that Mr. Biden鈥檚 pullout, which he referred to as passing the torch 鈥渢o a new generation ... new voices, fresh voices 鈥� yes, younger voices,鈥� will give momentum to public policy efforts to define 鈥渢oo old.鈥�

鈥淪hould we have age limits?鈥� asks Steve Austad, a biologist and longevity researcher at the University of Alabama. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think so. Perhaps there are good reasons to have them, but they鈥檙e unfair to a lot of people.鈥�

He adds, 鈥淚 also don鈥檛 think it would be a bad national conversation to have ... as an opportunity to combat ageism.鈥�

Dr. Austad says he was 鈥渋ntrigued鈥� recently to discover one example of inconsistencies in age limits: There are mandatory retirement ages for judges in 32 states 鈥� and two states require forfeiture of retirement benefits if judges don鈥檛 retire at a certain age. But none of those states have mandatory retirement age limits for the legislators who set those limits.

Airing and clarifying what 鈥渢oo old鈥� really means 鈥� or doesn鈥檛 鈥� might raise consciousness about ageism鈥檚 societal effects, gerontologists say.

鈥淚nternalized ageism鈥� in older people, says Dr. Carpenter, citing studies, 鈥渃an change their behavior, their cognition, their physical activity, their willingness or desire to pursue certain things in life.鈥�

Conversely, that research also shows that cultivating 鈥減ositive age beliefs鈥� can significantly change those effects.

Dr. Carpenter and his colleagues worry that ageist messages also influence the mindsets of younger people who, as they age, will also struggle with the gap between stereotypes and scientific facts about healthy aging.

鈥淚 am hopeful that maybe this will be a catalyst [that] will open the door to having more serious conversations about what ageism actually looks like and how it impacts us at all levels,鈥� says Dr. Gendron.

This article was written with the support of a journalism fellowship from the Gerontological Society of America, the Journalists Network on Generations, and the Silver Century Foundation.