Is age fair game for joking?

Fair game?

Besides not being all that funny (the trio has much better lines on the same topic), the three jibes have something else in common: They all refer disparagingly to Bob Dole's age. And that raises a question for pondering during the presidential election campaign: Is it fair to make fun of someone's age?

Dave, Jay and Conan -- and a whole gaggle of gagmen -- ridicule Mr. Dole's age routinely. It's not partisan; President Clinton gets ragged all the time by the same comedians for being overweight (which he's not) and a philanderer (which he's not anymore). Of course, those are things he can control; Mr. Dole can't help getting older.

The comics are sensitive enough not to poke fun at something else Mr. Dole can't control: his physical handicap, a right arm that is paralyzed as a result of a war wound. But his age is considered fair game. Should it be?

Stereotypes

In joke after joke, the talk show hosts make remarks about incontinence, poor eyesight, slowness of mind and body, and other infirmities, as if they were the only and inevitable effects of age. In a way, Mr. Letterman recognized this himself when he spewed forth a bunch of one-liners all at once that kidded comedians as much as Mr. Dole:

"Bob Dole is so old, the first time he ran for office, there were only 13 colonies!...his Social Security number is two!...he thinks MTV is the place you go to get your driver's license renewed!...when he was a teenager, his cologne was New Spice!...he was once sued for sexual harassment by Betsy Ross!" And so on for five more vaudeville one-liners.

Too sensitive?

I am not arguing that comedians don't have the right to kid whoever they want however they want. Audiences can decide to watch, shut off the TV or protest. Nor am I saying that jokes about old people aren't sometimes funny. (I'm old enough to know better.) Nor am I telling you who I am going to vote for in November.

But I am saying that we all ought to think about whether Bob Dole's age -- or anyone's -- is something that should be presented as disqualifying them from holding political office or some other position of importance. Because if we are, then we had better start rewriting the history books to eliminate the many elderly people who have contributed significantly to making life better, starting with Moses.

If you can't name a dozen others off the top of your head, perhaps you're guilty of age-ism. After all, if you couldn't name significant black or female or Jewish leaders, you might be justly charged with racism, chauvinism or anti-Semitism.

(I'd like to hear reaction from readers, especially those over 60. Are jokes about old age funny? Is Bob Dole's age fair game for ridicule? Am I being hyper-sensitive now that I'm 50?

(07-18-96) [[In-content Ad]]