What “Too Old” Really Means in the COVID Era
Margaret Morganroth Gullette · Age Culture Humanities An Interdisciplinary Journal · 2024
Everyone who has noticed the ageism in US Presidential politics has an opinion as to ( 1) whether the incumbent Joe Biden is indeed "too old" and/or(2) how best to rebut the Republican-leaning accusation.What is entirely missing from the discussion is whether there is a context larger than a single election, in which the keyword is the new ageism, a renewed bias against old age and disability.Lurking in the background still are the COVID deaths of 1.2 million Americans; and even more salient, public knowledge that a staggering percentage of them were over sixty-five: over 80% in 2020 (Tejada-Vera and Kramarow) and 92% in 2022 (Kekatos).Many people would like to forget the frightening time before the vaccine,