Ageism

How Not to Act Old

Posted by: Anti-Ageism Task Force

—SPEAK YOUR MIND—

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Sunday, July 20, 2008—The Anti-Ageism Task Force gives two thumbs up to Pamela Redmond Satran's blog How Not to Act Old. Before you start scratching your head, be advised that How Not to Act Old is written with tongue planted firmly in cheek. In fact, Satran's satire on our youth obsessed culture strikes just the right tone, because while there's nothing funny about ageism — admit it — there are a few things that are funny about getting older.

Satran is an accomplished author, including five novels and eight bestselling baby-naming books. Her blog lampoons our society's age denial with posts such as "Don’t Die. Or Even Consider The Possibility of Dying". Here's an excerpt:

Death is so not done these days that, unless your brain stem has been removed and you’re older than, say, 105, you can never ever admit that dying might lie somewhere in your future.
...
Dying is a deliberately uncool act, like walking into J.C. Penney and buying yourself a pair of gray plastic oxfords and wearing them with knee-high hose and a pair of culottes. I mean, how dare you be so clueless? Haven’t you heard of pilates? Super low calorie diets and red wine? Energy field healing? Seat belts? Dying: There’s no damn excuse!

Other posts include:

"No Poodles": There are “young” dogs and there are “old” dogs, and poodles are owned by people over 40
"Don’t Be Named Bob or Pat": Change your name to a younger sounding one like Josh or Jessica
"Don’t Leave A Message": They're called voice mails, these days, and anyway, it's better to text
"No Digestion Discussions, Ever": We all know it happens, but the world doesn’t want to hear about it

We find Ms. Satran's posts both smart and funny — and altogether digestible. But, what do you think? Click here to start or join the conversation.

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Keywords: ageism, humor, blogs

Comments

awareness of behavior

By Unknown on Sep 02 2008 at 5:45 PM

At age 64 I am very interested in successful aging. I cannot determine if persons who act old are choosing the "negative behavior" or if they are totally unaware of their sterotypical negative behavior. I wonder if one was made aware of the negative behavior would there be an effort to alter the behavior?

Why do family, friends and society enable the negative behavior?

Healthy Aging Publications

By Anti-Ageism Task Force on Sep 29 2008 at 2:49 PM

Thanks for commenting. You may be very interested in some of our "Healthy Aging" publications, which are available for free download.

Anti-Ageism Task Force

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