Reaction by America's political right has been gleeful with the news that CBS News anchor Dan Rather plans to step down from that post in March. Whether conservative pundits are justified in their feeling that Rather is biased (pro-left, anti-right), I simply can't say because I haven't watched the CBS Evening News in something like twenty years. Literally, Walter Cronkite left and I became a Tom Brokaw-viewer.
But one recurring aspect of some of those gleeful conservative responses to Rather's announcement has really bothered me. I've seen repeated mention made of his age (73) and of the advanced years of his CBS colleagues, always in condescending terms. They imply that the ages of CBS's top newspeople is grounds for dismissing their work. One prominent youngish blogger even suggested that it was strange for Rather to have quoted Bob Dylan twice in recent public statements, as though a septuagenarian had no right to quote a singer-songwriter about ten years his junior. (I wonder what this guy would have said when my seventy-five year old mother-in-law told me this morning that she likes U2?) One prominent conservative commentator displayed a similar hipper-than-thou-because-you're-older-than-I-am attitude about Rather on one of the news networks last evening.
I've seen this attitude before. It's precisely the one my generation displayed when, back in the Vietnam War-era, we sang along with the Who, "I hope I die before I get old." We disdained the old and were sure that we could do a lot better without them, thank you very much.
Well, two original members of the Who did die before they grew old. The two surviving members, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey, on the brink of senior citizens' status, are soon to go back to a recording studio and produce a new LP. I assume that they're doing so because they believe that they still have something to say (and product to sell) even now.
And there's a good chance that they do. Assuming that we actually pay attention to the lessons our life's successes and failures afford, we really do gain wisdom with the passing of years. As we age, it's possible for us to learn, change, grow, adapt, and have lessons of value to pass along to others.
I find it ironic that young conservatives have been so quick to attack Rather and his CBS colleagues due to their age because just a few months ago, many of these same commentators were celebrating the life, wisdom, and contributions of the oldest man ever to serve as President, Ronald Reagan.
The young have vital contributions to make to our world---new ideas (or perhaps, recycled old ones worthy of another try), fresh energy, different sensibilities.
But middle-aged and elderly persons also have some things to share. In world seeing the elevation of average life expectancies and increases in years of average activity and mobility, it's silly to dismiss a person simply because they've attained what we consider an advanced age.
It's more than silly; it's flat-out wrong!
Besides that, it's shameful to deny our elders our respect simply because they're our elders.
Dan Rather may very well be a biased liberal journalist. But if he is, that's got nothing to do with his age. As his critics assess and criticize his career, his age should have no bearing on what they say.
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