How we are regarded is largely a function of how we allow ourselves to be regarded. Rejecting other people's regard when it is based on faulty premises is one of the gifts of age, that, sadly, not everyone acquires.
Self regard is the cure for the disregard of others.
She is typical of "me me me" and the continual flow of sexism we see from Australian journalists. The last few decades in Australian media have been a dark spot. This author is sexist, arrogant and takes pride in yanking a strange girl's hair (which is tantamount to assault).
"In two strides I was behind the schoolgirl. I reached up, seized her ponytail at the roots and gave it a sharp downward yank."
"My only regret is that I couldn’t see the Asian woman’s face at the moment the schoolgirl’s head jerked back and her insolent grin turned into a rictus."
"The armed child behind the police station counter unable to conceal her boredom...."
Historically, the Greeks (as one example) respected the opinions of wise elders,
"Monarchies in ancient Greece were not absolute because there was usually a council of older citizens (the senate, or in Macedonia the congress) who gave advice to the King."
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greece
From my own experience, I always sought adults that I felt I could learn from. Even as a kid, I remember thinking some older people gave bad advice and some showed great insight and used this to focus my attention. My own kids seem to echo similar sentiments to my own at the same age.
It's unclear what this article is even doing on HN but since it it's there, why counterpoints to it should be frowned upon? Maybe "how old people are" is a bad generalization, but after reading the article would you disagree that she sounds full of herself?
Not true. Traditional Asian societies take the other extreme and venerate age (probably more than they should, but that's another topic). Hence, you have 90-year-old patriarchs calling shots in family businesses, and middle-aged men whose parents were still alive were traditionally considered still adolescent. Also, not taking care of your parents is a jailable crime in China.
In every society but our own, women after 40 were considered very old.
I'm a man under 40, so this may not be my fight, but... Fuck. That. Shit. While it is true that middle-aged, unmarried women were once considered undesirable and suspect, that was in societies in which urinating at the dinner table was socially acceptable, childbirth meant a 1-in-25 chance of dying, indoor plumbing didn't exist, and tuberculosis was a death sentence.
She should be happy to be alive instead of complaining about young people being young.
She's not complaining about young people being young. She's complaining about people (often with no reference to their age) being stupid. Not all young people are stupid.
I think Garner's point is that we live in a society in which other people's regard for your worth is a function of your age.