I always love these sly references to the popular music of our day. I just read that yesterday or the day before was the 49th anniversary of Costello’s MY AIM IS TRUE album.
Thank you so much for this, I liked the jokes in here. I'm 62, and I understand it's not all laughs. But my mother, at 85, is at the point where she is all about the humor of how long she's made it and what may or may not happen each dy. I think her jokes keep her going.
I'm in the camp that thinks Progressive Insurance's "Don't turn into your parents" TV campaign isn't funny, it's disrespectful and condescending. It mocks older people's small talk, reactions and values. It implies that once you are old enough to be a parent you become embarrassingly clueless. So much for honoring one's mother and father.
We can make jokes about ourselves as INDIVIDUALS only as they reflect how we are responding to being old. And we can't make jokes about old people in general. The first situation focuses on the idiosyncratic way we have chosen to act and live as old people (which can be faulty), while the second is ageist because it doesn't acknowledge the immense diversity that exists among we older people, not only to our conditions/situations, but also to our values, history, and the additional assets we have developed just by living a long time.
We all need things that make us laugh. I smile when people I know well ask if I am finally retired….and I say yes….and they say, ‘for now’. Humor shouldn’t hurt anyone……after all, growing old is a privilege that many don’t get to enjoy even with all its trials and tribulations .
I always love these sly references to the popular music of our day. I just read that yesterday or the day before was the 49th anniversary of Costello’s MY AIM IS TRUE album.
Thank you so much for this, I liked the jokes in here. I'm 62, and I understand it's not all laughs. But my mother, at 85, is at the point where she is all about the humor of how long she's made it and what may or may not happen each dy. I think her jokes keep her going.
Thanks, Elizabeth. I hope she continues to live in good humor for many years.
I like a lot of late-night comedy, but all the jokes about Biden's--and even Trump's--dotage leave me cold.
I'm in the camp that thinks Progressive Insurance's "Don't turn into your parents" TV campaign isn't funny, it's disrespectful and condescending. It mocks older people's small talk, reactions and values. It implies that once you are old enough to be a parent you become embarrassingly clueless. So much for honoring one's mother and father.
We can make jokes about ourselves as INDIVIDUALS only as they reflect how we are responding to being old. And we can't make jokes about old people in general. The first situation focuses on the idiosyncratic way we have chosen to act and live as old people (which can be faulty), while the second is ageist because it doesn't acknowledge the immense diversity that exists among we older people, not only to our conditions/situations, but also to our values, history, and the additional assets we have developed just by living a long time.
Thanks for a very useful distinction.
Nothing
Oh poo! Lighten up, Jane.
We all need things that make us laugh. I smile when people I know well ask if I am finally retired….and I say yes….and they say, ‘for now’. Humor shouldn’t hurt anyone……after all, growing old is a privilege that many don’t get to enjoy even with all its trials and tribulations .
Great perspective! Thanks, Kathy.