New York (AANN) — The Washington Post reports new studies asking older people if they are happy and then taking at face value their replies that they are much happier in old age than when they were young. With all due respect, that’s like asking American males how big their penises are.
American dudes all claim to sport seven inches at least. Which we know is simply not true. It’s like the joke of pollsters asking teenagers if they masturbate or not. The study found Only 2% masturbate. But 98% are pathological liars.
How do we explain the epidemic of depression among older people? Or seniors’ higher risk for suicide? Or the sea of loneliness many older people are immersed in and complain of?
How do we explain the huge amounts of money being spent on botox, plastic surgery, cosmetics by people who are growing old but don’t want to?
These facts simply belie the results of the studies. As pollsters know, people often give what they feel is “the right answers.” It’s bad enough to be old. But to be a whining old person is one of the most negative stereotypes.
How likely is it for seniors who face a much higher incidence of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s etc to be so much happier than when they were healthy and not popping medication all day long?
How likely when they experience so much more personal loss in the deaths of loved ones?
It’s hard enough to be old. One should not feel obligated to be “happier” too. There is a simple explanation for those older people who truly believe they are happier.
Denial.
And as Mark Twain quipped (not fibbed): “That’s not just a river in Egypt.”
On her farewell tour, Cher admitted that “There is not one good thing about growing old.”
Now that’s honesty!
Conclusion: The methodology of these studies are so obviously flawed. It is quite puzzling that the Washington Post does not have writers who have the critical faculties to point this glaring fact out.
But if the Washington Post won’t puncture this old-is-happier propaganda, we at the Anti-Aging News Network have no qualms about doing so.
xxxx
