A co-worker once remarked to me that old people should be turned into food to help feed a much younger generation. His argument followed that after a certain age a human ceases to become a productive member of society and therefore should just give up the ghost and call it a day.
Keep in mind this guy lives in a remote village on a large island off the coast of Alaska. He has a lot of time to formulate ideas with the five other people living inside his head.
I was reminded of this yesterday as I watched Mr. Weller, 86, hobble behind his lawyer looking very unaware and uncaring that he had just killed 9 people and injured 45 (some still in critical condition).
What pisses me off is that this probably could have been avoided. Here is a guy who has lived his whole life, he is on the down slope of a bell-curve, and his recklessness managed to destroy persons who had much of their life still ahead of them.
No alcohol or drugs, just a natural lack of brian synapses.
You know, Whoop-see Daisies.
I believe it's time the federal government should take action and prevent further preventable catastrophes.
We should reverse course and quadruple the budget for SETI with the new mandate of finding Brian Dennehy.
Once we have made contact he will come, gather our older population, and take them into space where they can live happy and no where near a moving vehicle.
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Truly a tragedy, yes, but does the entire blame land on the backs of the aged? What options, especially in an auto-centric place such as Southern California, does an elderly person have for getting around? This is one of the many reasons that we should be funneling more resources into mass transportation.
Perhaps some of the Penatgon's formidable budget could be used for helping our fellow citizens instead of mounting useless military actions around the world.
Good god what a horrific thing. Are there manditory re-testing laws for elderly drivers in california? Shouldn't there be? I understand the need to "get around" as an elderly person, but shouldn't there be a line drawn before Wilford Brimley goes careening through the nearest flea market?
My stomach hurts bacause this is so sad & horrible. I don't know what the answer is....retesting the elderly on an annual basis (at their expense) to assess their driving skills? We recently had a situation similar (though minimalist on the blood & guts stuff) to this in Seattle. On elderly gent had a heart attack & died behind the wheel & plowed into a woman & her daughter on the sidewalk downtown. They both lived through it though. Why don't we test our aging drivers for health & risk factors just as we would a veteran pilot or older skipper?
When I get that old, I'm hoping that I'll have a fulltime driver to shuttle me around or the "transporter beam" from Star Trek becomes reality.
It's a catch-22. Very easy to put all the blame on the elderly for their reckless driving. Yet, there doesn't seem to be enough driver enforcement when it comes to letting the elderly get behind the wheel. In the end, a 90-year-old behind the wheel of a close-ton of moving steel is not a good thing.
It's such a PC time. Seems the only thing left to make fun of is the fat and the old. Teenage drivers also suck, but American culture is so youth-oriented that I guess it doesn't matter. I thing what happens is after you're done being a teenager, you progressively value the elderly more and more until you are one. What I'm saying is, "Have you hugged your fat old person today?"
Just to deflect ... Brian Dennehy is currently starring with Vanessa Redgrave and Philip Seymour Hoffman in an amazing revival of Eugene O'Neill's "A Long Day's Journey Into Night" on Broadway, NYC. If you love depressing and soul-wracking drama as much as I you'll consider yourself lucky to have attended.
I think that old people would be too sinewy to be of much nutritional value in feeding the younger generation. Maybe a better idea would be forced labor camps where at least they could be put to work doing something productive and keep them off the streets. Well, at least send them to adult day care where the younger generation can keep an eye on them. That and forced retesting of drivers over the age of 60?