Debate Aggressive elderly?

Is it a misconception, or are the elderly becoming more aggressive as well lately?
A while ago, I heard the news where a 64 year old man drove his car into a couple who were loading their groceries into their car. The old man was waiting for them to drive away so he could get their parking spot. But he grew impatient, it didn't go fast enough, so he decided to "bump" into them, probably as a reminder. Sure, I mean, it won't hurt to just "bump" into them, right? ..WRONG old man! His impatience cost one victim's life, and the other victim lost one of her legs.
This is just one of the problems discussed, and most extreme case as far as I can remember. When friends and family come to this subject, they usually complain how they usually get pushed aside by old ladies when they want to get on a bus, while in queue for something...

Ofcourse, I know I'm probably quite one-sided here, since it's quite clearly that not just elderly, but society as a whole becomes more aggressive.

(sorry for my hack-and-eyed thread, I'm bad at explaining things.)

Any more who could share some stories/opinions about this?

 

I think you're reducing the scope too much. SOCIETY IN GENERAL has become much more aggressive!

 

true.

old people aren't suppose to be nice anyway.

that thats story is absolutly sad.

 

I DID mention that as well, you know ;p

"Ofcourse, I know I'm probably quite one-sided here, since it's quite clearly that not just elderly, but society as a whole becomes more aggressive."

 

Neg. The population has grown- alot. I believe the ratio of crime to people hasn't changed so much as the number of people.

Let's say the ratio of people committing criime to people who don't is 1-3; for every three people at least one commits a crime. Stick those numbers into a population of 300 and then the same numbers in a population of 3000. 100 people to 1000 people. The latter society would seem to be more aggressive than the smaller one because of the larger number of crimes being commited. I would like to see a study which points out the ratio of crime to population over the course of the last fifty years. I bet it would surpise a lot of people.

~W

 

k well which one is it? ...are we gunne be talking about the elderly or society?...if everyones gunna be talking about society then change the name of this thread. Im gunna stick to the original topic in this thead and stick to the elderly.

I used to work at retirement center and MAN there were some really really REALLY pissy people there like unbelievably rude! if they didnt have 2 cubes of ice in their water, theyd huck it on the floor! stuff like that. But there were also some very very nice people there too who would say hi every day and offer to help out with stuff even though they could barely walk...

older people have always been associated with being grumpy and rude so theres nothing new there but its not all of them...are ALL of your grandparents rude pissy people??

 

Meh, I bet that old people are just as pissy as us young ones. We get cranky and crabby when we dont have things our way, just like they do. We get impatient and do stupid things all the time, just like them.

Hell I can't really blame them. If I fought against Nazi germany, raised my kids only to have them killed in Vietnam, watched my grandkids grow up only to die in Iraq, then get stuck in some retirement home for the rest of my days because my remaining kids don't give two damns about me or my happiness then I might be a little disgruntled myself.

Remember we're all young yet. We still don't know a damn thing about nothing. Our grandparents have see a lot of things and been through alot of rough times. If they're old and cranky it's because no one gives a damn about them anymore.

Case in point: A few of us sailors back in Charleston SC went to visit the old war vet home down near Patriot's Point. You should have seen the looks on thier faces when a bunch of strangers wearing uniforms took time out of thier day to volunteer and go visit these guys. One of the lady's who worked there E-mailed our LCPO (our boss) and said that for weeks afterwards they were still talking about the sailors that came to visit. It should have been US who were floored visiting these guys who put thier lives on the line so long ago.

I can't blame them. I would be the same way if the world forgot what I did and everything I went through at the end of my days. Many of these guys only want to be heard before thier voices are silenced by age forever. They don't have much anymore.

I don't think the elderly are getting agressive, they're being forgotten.

~W

 

Think about it.... the news gobbles up bad things because it gets the most watchers.... I mean it could just be me but the good news is not show as much and is given less time. Are we any more sadistic than the Romans as they watched slaughter in the coliseum? Are we any more cruel and blood thirsty than the people during the bloody French Revolution or the Spanish Inquisition? Is our society more horrific than Stalin's or Hitler's? Is our society any more aggressive than it was when the Klu Klux Klan ruled the South with death and terror?​

Times change, but does the nature of human beings? Now we can send ideas across the world in seconds, but only because of the progress of communication. They didn't have police everywhere, and even if a place did have some sort of law enforcement it didn't mean that they were good (the infamous Black and Tans for example). They didn't have the labs to analyze how some one died. Even if they did figure out it was a murder, the news rarely got too far. It's not as though murder is a new thing, much less aggression. Part of it is as Wertitis said... If we could look at percentages it would be easier to tell, but then you have to remember that the records would not be to the same standard as modern ones.​

First off the body had to be found, other wise no one could truly say that the person was dead. If the body was found it would have to have been relatively fresh or rather there would have had to have been enough of the flesh still on the body for them to have an inkling what happened. Then of course it had to be recorded and that did not happen all the time.​

Of course there are other sorts of aggression beside murder, but brawls in bars, arguments, and what not would be even harder to find evidence of. Just because such were not recorded doesn't mean they did not happen. Most squabbles were seen as trivial and there for there was no reason to bother writing every single incident down.
​

Edit:

There are far more elderly people than there used to be. Also not all elderly are aggressive.... Besides, if you ached and pained and couldn't do anything on your own after years of being able to take care of yourself wouldn't you be at least a little be grumpy? I mean it's really hard for them... to go from a independence to being treated like a child wouldn't be much fun. You wouldn't like it if suddenly some one took you away from your house, took away your car, treated you like a baby but with out the loving part, and made you live in a place that had little mental stimulus and is little better than a cross between a dorm and a hospital. They treated like scum by so many people. They're slow and stupid and diseased, crippled with age. I think that a certain aspect with in us is afraid, because we know that one day we'll be just like them, SLOW, STUPID, DISEASED, UGLY. In our prime and vigor with our youthful beauty... well we're terrified of the thought, so we push them away along with the deformed and the handicapped, out of sight and out of mind. We don't have time for them. We don't have time to think about being old.​

Wouldn't you just love to be treated that way? Wouldn't you be all cheerful and happy if society treated you like that?

 

even though i can't deny it society is becoming more aggressive in general.
But, you can't be aggressive, if you know what i mean, funny as it may sound but people sueing other people is out of hand now; believe this story or not (but it is true) some woman in New York sued a man for farting on an elevator, because she had to breathe that air in. She won the case and won loads'a money in compensation.
So even though its truesociety is aggressive, you aren't able to be aggressive. Kind of confusin but thats life.

 

Well, yes in a sense it is right to say that society has become more agressive. Though as mentioned before could be not considered because of the population growth. But I dont know if its just me but things have definetly gotten more agressive. I mean we see riots bombings...crazy stuff like old people crashing into people, where does it end? It doesnt, the aggresiveness of the past I believe is influencing us to become more agressive.

 

Who else wants to bet that the percieved view that society is more aggressive is because we live in a networked society and thus hear about the aggressive acts a ton more? Yes, you have events like the riots in France, but those are not exactly common. There's been riots over sports in the past; I'd say this is just a continuation of everything.

Old people crashing into people? Surprise, old people can't drive.

Rai, I call BS on your claim that a woman sued and won over fart smell, especially with no link to back it up. And for those about to cite the case about the woman who sued over hot coffee spilled on her lap, it wasn't that the coffee was hot. It's that it was much more hot than it was supposed to be, and actually melted her labia. I don't know what you people drink but nothing I drink is hot enough to make flesh melt.

 

He's mirroring exactly what Jackabee said. X-fer of information has gone up. Storage of information has gone up. Number of occurances (As a result of population rise) has gone up. Therefore we begin to believe that society is becoming more agressive- a false belief. Morals are changing and standards are changing, but we're not any more aggressive now than fifty years ago.

I still find it hard to swallow that a woman would sue McDonalds for hot coffee. Melt her labia? What kind of coffee pot brews coffee at the "melt flesh" setting? With regards to physics the HOTTEST a cup of coffee will EVER be is 215 F, because any warmer and it turns into a vapor, and 215 is enough to burn you pretty good, but not melt your flesh. 215 is the boiling point and no one brews thier coffee to boiling. I'm not even sure if the coffee pot can even get that high.

That doesn't excuse the fact that she still injured HERSELF by spilling coffee on HERSELF, it doesn't matter where you buy it at. Are you going to sue Black and Decker because you cut your finger off with thier jigsaw, despite the warnings on the side? Are you going to sue McDonalds because you won't stop eating thier food and as a result are becoming fat?

Oh wait, never mind. Stupid people are already doing so.

The number of rising court cases is not indicative of a more agressive society. People dont want to blame themselves for thier own stupidity so they pass the blame off on the companies selling them thier products.

So in essance society isn't becoming more agressive. We're becoming more arrogant and stupid.

The herd theory is coming true.

~W

 

You may know physics but you don't know burns.

http://www.vanfirm.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm

My argument isn't based on her spilling coffee, it's that the coffee is far hotter than it needs to be. A product that can cause a 3rd degree burn in a couple seconds is just -way too hot-. Can you come up with a legitimate reason for it being that hot?

 

There's no reason for it to be any hotter than 160 degrees. I work with food all the time, some of it hot, and I'm taught that all hot foods must be kept at least 160 degrees to prevent bacteria growth and to keep food safe. 180 is too hot, as, in the case of food, it continues to cook it at that temperature, until it, obviously, loses its quality as it becomes overcooked and dry. In the case of beverages, I would assume it would be relatively similar, although not necessarily.

Anyway, it's a definate fact that people are aggressive. Whether they are *more* aggressive is perhaps debateable, but it's pretty plain to see that they go overboard far more often than they should. If nothing else, I point you to the [thread=17500]Work Horror Stories[/thread] thread, which are almost all examples of it.

Regardless of whether they are *more* aggressive than they used to be, I'm referring to everyone here, not just the elderly, they all need to relax a little and calm down. It's anger that's typically behind aggression.

Our society tends to keep us pretty high strung, so that the slightest problem makes us snap. It's bad for you and for those around you, in more ways than just having to walk on eggshells to avoid making someone snap. I say calm down, and take it easy. Getting angry over something won't fix it, so why bother? If something unfortunate happens, it's not always the employee who is at fault. Take a few deep breaths, and don't think about being stressed out. There's no purpose to being stressed over... well anything, really. It only hurts you to be that way, you're better off not worrying about it.

To be honest, I can't even remember the last time I got angry about something... ok, I can, but it was an extenuating circumstance. Usually I just don't get angry. There's just no point to it. And I can tell you there've been more than a few people who I've impressed, that way.

 

Because that's the temperature the standard is set at. If people are too stupid to take care and follow the warnings on the coffee cup then they don't deserve my pity. I re-direct you to my question above. Are we going to start suing McDonalds as well because thier food is too fattening and we all gain weight as a result?

I'd forgotten about that. It's true. We are a little more on the wire than before. I don't know if that would make us anymore aggressive, but it would definately make us more irritable.

~W

 

I'm not the best person to ask about this, admittedly, but certainly if coffee is hot enough to cause third degree burns in a matter of seconds, it's too hot. How can you expect to drink it if it's that hot?

Now, in that link, someone mentioned it was partly her fault for "not removing her clothing immediately." Tell me, you're sitting in the driver's seat of a car, with seat belt on, and you spill your coffee in your lap. Tell me, how are you possibly going to remove your pants (and get out of the seat, too) in the 2-3 seconds it takes that coffee to give you a nasty third degree burn?

Anyway, this thread isn't meant for bashing McDonalds, is it?

Perhaps not directly. However aggressiveness tends to be related to your stress level. The more stressed you are, the easier you get angry, and the angrier you are, the more aggressive you are, am I wrong?

 

Way to ignore that my argument is based on the coffee being -too damn hot- for no real logical reason, rather than that I'm siding with the woman!

Let me spell it out for you: the coffee can cause 3rd degree burns in under three seconds. Spills happen, and while I'm not saying McDonalds should award each and every spiller, what I -am- saying is that it shouldn't be that hot in the first place. If a dangerous product exists, it needs to be revamped so that it's less of a danger if a very common accident happens. For example, the Firestone Tires fiasco from a while back, where the tires would just shred themselves in the middle of driving.

Edit: The weight issue is different too because you don't bite into a random chicken nugget and suddenly pack on thirty pounds on accident.

 

Common sense should tell the lady that the coffee is hot she should have known that and ask for some ice to put in it to cool it off

Yes I do think that older people are getting argessive now days because the younger gen. don't show any respect for them at all like examp some of them don't hold the door open for them when they are walking in after you or they are exiting as you come in.

 

Read the article; it's significantly hotter than industry standard and there's no way she could have known how hot it would be. It's not like anyone orders coffee expecting flesh melting cups of doom.

 

:sweat2: Funny how conversations about old people could turn into arguments over coffee. :catgirl:

Back to the original topic, I'm not sure whether seniors are more aggressive now. Naturally, I'd assume people are more aggressive during times clouded with economic and social instability.

One way to measure the amount of potential angst is to measure the expectations of a population and compare its current weath. In our case, because memories of past economic prosperity and current difficulties are still fairly fresh in our minds, it is fair to say that dissatisfaction is more common now.

In a nutshell, old people are pissed because the economy sucks and so does the society built around it. As for whether they are more pissed, how the hell would I know? All the old people I know are dead already. :sweat: