QUOTE
Show me a young conservative and I'll show you a man without a heart. Show me an old liberal and I'll show you a man without a brain.
-Winston Churchill
From the article;
QUOTE (->
| QUOTE |
| Show me a young conservative and I'll show you a man without a heart. Show me an old liberal and I'll show you a man without a brain. |
-Winston Churchill
From the article;
The stereotype of a cranky old man, set in his ways, getting more conservative by the day, is an enduring one. But new research has debunked the myth that people become more conservative as they age.
They missed the most obviously needed component of any experiment: A control.
Who is to say that the results are simply not indicative of the vastly pervasive liberal attitudes of the 60's and 70's, which would naturally be more prevalent among those who were young during those periods, while those who were young during the relatively (in comparison to the 60's and 70's) conservative 80's and 90's maintain their own conservative views?
(The 60's and 70's saw free love and an emphesis on charity and social responsibility, new age mysticism, and racial equality.
The 80's brought with it AIDs, which put an end to free love, and crackheads, which put an end to the ability to safely engage in charitable activities in poor neighborhoods. It also brought "reaganomics," a new rise in televangelism, and the 90's had the various scandals surrounding the liberal president.)
QUOTE
While the surveys did not provide data for the same individuals at different stages, they represented snapshots of the changing attitudes of respondents in different age cohorts over time.
Who is to say that the results are simply not indicative of the vastly pervasive liberal attitudes of the 60's and 70's, which would naturally be more prevalent among those who were young during those periods, while those who were young during the relatively (in comparison to the 60's and 70's) conservative 80's and 90's maintain their own conservative views?
(The 60's and 70's saw free love and an emphesis on charity and social responsibility, new age mysticism, and racial equality.
The 80's brought with it AIDs, which put an end to free love, and crackheads, which put an end to the ability to safely engage in charitable activities in poor neighborhoods. It also brought "reaganomics," a new rise in televangelism, and the 90's had the various scandals surrounding the liberal president.)
It seems sensible that people would grow more conservative with age. Not because their views change but because the world moves further away from the cultural environment which socialized them. They see the world through increasingly slanted glasses, and they begin to judge the world in terms that are not necessarily applicable to modern situations. It all ties in with the very sad aspect of existance that it takes the present to appreciate the past and it takes the future to appreciate the present. Bad times are simply a reference point for good times, and good times would not be remembered or recognized as good without that reference point.
I may have slipped a bit off topic but I think that it is all related.
I may have slipped a bit off topic but I think that it is all related.