• BB69@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I mean Paul Ryan is only 53 now and was elected to office when he was 29. He is pretty young. McCarthy is only 58. Eric Cantor is the oldest at 62.

      Definitely young and around the age you want leaders to be.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        … 40’s are middle aged adults.

        “Young” is 18-19, maybe mid 20’s.

        Stop infantilizing entire generations of grown-ass adults

        • GratefullyGodless@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          This makes me think of Sen. Strom Thurmond, who when he was in his 80s it came out he had an affair when he was in his 40s, and he said it was no big deal, that it was just a “youthful indiscretion”.

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Was that about when Elsie mae Williams came out as his secret daughter ? Her mom was 15 when Williams was born…

        • Ech@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          Chill out my dude. Saying someone is young in the context of their peers isn’t “infantilizing” anyone.

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            no. first. you’re wrong it is.

            You see, people past their fifties still treat me like a child… even though I’ve maintained two steady careers- simultaneously, because fuck this economy- for nearly two decades now. I am a grown-ass adult, and you do not get to dismiss, patronize or indeed infantilize me just because I happen to have a different opinion than you. that’s just being ageist.

        • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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          11 months ago

          Infantilizing.

          Good God Lemmy, not everything is a condition/syndrome/loaded action.

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago
            1. did I say that? no. I didn’t.
            2. I know many 18 YO’s who are far more mature than a certain ex president, and at least as mature as the current one. age is an extremely poor indicator of one’s maturity, capability or the quality of their experience.
            • BB69@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Who cares? It doesn’t matter that “18 years olds are on the battlefield”.

              Knife cuts both ways. I know 90 years olds more cognizant than some 20 year olds.

              I don’t want either of them leading a nation

              • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                Yeah? I never mentioned warfare, those were other commenters.

                The knife cuts both ways, but only one way is constitutionally sanctioned. Funny how that works.

                • BB69@lemmy.world
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                  11 months ago

                  Because the majority of 35 and under don’t have the experience in life or law or professionalism to hold an elder statesman position? They can still be elected to the house of reps to earn that experience. Or hold state offices.

                  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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                    11 months ago
                    1. once again… that’s not what I’m saying. Stop putting words in my mouth. Stop running off tangents. I am saying that it’s possible to be too old in the same way that it’s possible to be too young… and that the individuals in question are not “young” at all, and acting like they’re young is a problem.
                    2. majority of all Americans don’t have the qualifications you list. Should we amend the constitution to only allow lawyers to run things? Or perhaps we should just create a political caste and call it good?
                    3. it’s not the amount of experience that matters. It’s the quality and relevance. When you’re sole requirement is quantity of experience, you wind up with old farts whose majority of experience predate the modern world. (More than 3/4’s of Biden’s life has been without modern social media. More than half without the WWW.)
                    4. there are other qualities that also matter- like having a new idea. Biden has been part of the government for longer than I’ve been alive. Our govnernment has stagnated with people like him and Feinstein and McConnel in control. In every organization, leadership reaches a plateau where it’s difficult to grow past. You need new leadership- new ideas to leave that plateau.
      • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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        11 months ago

        53 to 62 is by no means young. It may not be elderly, but it’s past middle aged.

        The “ideal age” for a political leader is a bag of worms that it’s difficult to get into without immediately falling into several different types of ageism.

        The world lived in by a 60 year old for most of their adult life was radically different from the modern world, and has many differences from the world as experienced by the majority of Americans.
        That doesn’t necessarily make them a worse leader, just like more experience in life doesn’t necessarily make them better, but it definitely raises concerns about disconnection from modern issues.

        • BB69@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Well I gave their current ages. They were 20 years younger when elected.

          62 isn’t spring chicken, but it isn’t Feinstein zombie old.

          40ish is definitely a good age to be voted in and prove yourself talented enough to lead for another 20-30 years.

          • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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            11 months ago

            You straight up called 58 young, and said they’re young and the age you want. “McCarthy is only 53. (…) He is pretty young”.

            I’d rather judge candidates in their abilities and policies than on their age. Regardless of their age, these politicians are unpalatable.

            • BB69@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              You totally rephrased my comment wtf.

              I mean Paul Ryan is only 53 now and was elected to office when he was 29. He is pretty young. McCarthy is only 58. Eric Cantor is the oldest at 62.

              Definitely young and around the age you want leaders to be.

              I was talking about Paul Ryan, who has been out of office for years. 58 isn’t ancient either.

              The entire comment string was about how these three were “greying” in the photo. Nobody mentioned policy or abilities to me. Don’t forget, Paul Ryan quit because he knew how the party was going to turn out. Seems like a good man to me.

              • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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                11 months ago

                Getting the name wrong was my mistake, but I’d hardly call it totally rephrasing your comment. Intent was to remove the extraneous portion in the middle.

                No one said it’s ancient, but it’s definitely not “young”. They’re all close to retirement age.

                  • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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                    11 months ago

                    I’m just curious, out of all the stuff to get yourself all pissed off about, why would you get pissed about saying “old people aren’t young”?

                    If you’re gonna care about random shit on the Internet, there’s a lot more interesting things to care about.

        • BB69@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          And retirement age isn’t until 65 or so in the majority of countries.

          • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Being less than 10 years from retirement makes you old.

            How is this not clear?

            • BB69@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Besides the fact that’s not true, none of these men were that old when the picture was taken.

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                I’m younger than they are and I’m not young at 46. I own a home and have a teenage daughter. Obviously I’m not young.