But none other than ageism claims each of us like a man carves a notch on his headboard, like a bombardier a stencil on his airplane, a capitalist a dollar in his bank account. Indeed, we are all victims of every oppression acted out in our society.
It is not at all presumptuous to claim that the one oppressive dynamic* of which we have all been on the receiving end is that of ageism. Which brings us to why ageism is unique among oppressions: we are all directly its victims. That is why ageism needs to be recognized. In our struggle for true liberation, we can leave no one behind - especially not those to whom the torch of revolution shall be passed. While the Left takes great pride in its defense of women, the impoverished, racial and religious minorities, etc., it fails to realize that among the most thoroughly and widely oppressed are society’s young. Let’s face it: when adults look at oppression theory, they do so from a “grown up” perspective - one which sees right over the heads of even their own children. But when has it been stated that adult society, as an institution, oppresses the young regularly, consistently, and without exception? And when has it been stated further, in any detail, that this oppression is vital to, and largely born of, society’s need for maintenance at such absurd, atrocious levels? Sure, many an author has attempted to discuss the relationship between parent and child, teacher and pupil, detention center officer and detainee, etc. Yet its overall framework has long been ignored. From the moment of conception, young people are oppressed by their elders, entirely based on the difference in age, via a process known as “ageism.”Īs an oppression in need of acknowledgment and understanding, ageism is vital to oppression theory. The oppressed group is that of young people - all young people.Īs we will further demonstrate, adults and adult institutions in our society regularly commit acts of abuse, coercion, deprivation, indoctrination and invalidation against young people. It is not the oppression of people who can be blamed themselves - by any stretch of the imagination - for being among the oppressed. It is not an oppression of a tiny minority to which few will ever belong. It is the one oppression with which all humans can identify, having suffered from it directly. This fact is astonishing given that the group oppressed by this ignored injustice is one to which every adult human has once belonged. While most common oppressions, such as sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism, even speciesism, have been identified, widely acknowledged, thoroughly discussed and deeply analyzed, one oppression remains largely untouched.
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