I’ve long been puzzled by the idealization of youth in the modern world. I mean that cultural tenet which views younger people as intellectually and morally superior to older people. It’s a very unusual view — virtually no society before modern society has held it.

submitted by Chipit from treeofwoe.substack.com

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[–]passionflounder 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Premodern societies were based on older ways of doing things. Technological advances are driven and accelerated by younger people who are eager to have the latest and greatest gadgets. They often are the test market for new developments and advances while older folks are more likely to wait until the bugs are worked out before getting their feet wet- if they're interested at all.

Promoting the notion of youth as being morally superior essentially invalidates older generations' wisdom which limits them to little beyond being societal burdens; excess humanity that draws more in value from resources like health care than they contribute which ultimately makes them disposable.