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Canberra Today 13°/15° | Saturday, March 30, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Griffiths / Why are old people so rude?

FROM time to time it’s important to step back and ask the big questions; such as, why are old people so rude?

John Griffiths.
John Griffiths.

They bang on endlessly about the failings of the youth of today (a complaint in itself the height of ill manners and profoundly ignorant that their grievance is as old as time) and yet by any standards of manners many of them are simply awful in their behaviour.

The cutting in of lines is bad enough, can you imagine the harrumphing from their parents?

Worse is their predilection for “just popping in”. Perhaps 40 years ago people sat around staring at the ceiling (or worse, Channel 9) hoping for someone, anyone, to knock on the door and initiate human contact.

But we live in an age of wonders. No-one is ever bored any more unless by choice… the shows to watch, the games to play, the podcasts to listen to, the memes to retweet, the meetups in the pubs, the bands playing shows, the poetry slams, the trivia nights, the tabletop games sessions, the dogs to walk and the bicycles to ride.

If we want to meet in person then by all means suggest it and, if it’s something we want to do we’ll schedule it.

But if you’re gatecrashing the house it had better be because something is on fire or someone has died. Otherwise we can guarantee you have indeed come at a bad time.

The same can be said for a phone call without prior arrangement. Just where the hell do you get off demanding my undivided attention at a time of your choice?

(The only other group to try to home in on my time so unremittingly is publicists, truly the scum of the earth, and at least they’re getting paid to be objectionable.)

For true rudeness one needs to behold the ghastly spectacle of the elderly on online fora.

There the lies they were told 40 years ago must be respected by all as gospel and no resort to facts can be tolerated.

Citing sources, reasoned debate, an acknowledgment of the limitations of one’s own perspective are all too often lacking.

As a 43-year-old, I can promise I will not react well to the next person who calls me “boy”.

Let us then turn our attention to the accusation that “the youth” (apparently anyone under 65) are lazy.

It may be true that when their elders “pop in” the younger generation appear lethargic.

On the other hand, most people from any era would look a bit tuckered out having combined a 30-hour work week on top of a full-time study load.

And where has the free education and affordable housing gone? Could it be that money’s being spent on the longest retirements in human history?

Talk about bad manners!

So having rorted the real estate and retirement income systems to the utter detriment of the wider nation, please excuse us if we don’t want to hear more about your moral superiority.

 

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