Within the context of sexism, racism, and homophobia – exactly the kind of thing that we’re talking about in the SFW, as I understood it from the original BB post – I thought it was well understood that there’s a strong correlation with age. As in, the older the person, the more likely they are to have these “old fashioned” notions that, for example, gay people shouldn’t be allowed to marry.
Are there progressive septuagenarians? Sure, maybe. But not many of them.
Take same-sex marriage as an example.
In one meta-analysis by Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips of Columbia University, a majority of 18–29 year old Americans in 38 states support same sex marriage while in only 6 states do less than 45% of 18–29 year olds support same-sex marriage. At the same time not a single state shows support for same-sex marriage greater than 35% amongst those 64 and older
From the same Wikipedia article, with data citations:
Support for same-sex marriage in the U.S.
18 - 29 years old 65% 30 - 49 years old 54% 50 - 64 years old 45% 65+ years old 39%
To me, failure to support same-sex marriage is as inconceivable as failing to support interracial marriage. Which was not that long ago, to the tune of the late 60s and early 70s. If you want some truly hair-raising reading, try Loving v. Virginia on for size. Because, y’know, Virginia is for lovers. Just not those kind of lovers, and not 46 years ago. I am 42 years old, and I graduated from the University of Virginia.
Just like failure to support interracial marriage, failure to support same sex marriage is – statistically speaking – driven by old people who can’t let old prejudices go. As Bruce Hornsby once so eloquently said, that’s just the way it is. So pretty much this:
I like old people just fine. I’ll be one soon enough. But I’m really glad, in the big scheme of things, none of us lives too long.
