Home » Health » Opinion: Corona and the attack on the elderly | Comments | DW

Opinion: Corona and the attack on the elderly | Comments | DW

It’s a paradox. For years the philosopher Richard David Precht asked for one Duty to volunteer for senior citizens. Never in history have there been so many healthy, vital and resilient retirees as today – they should make themselves useful.

One year after the outbreak of the corona pandemic, the perception of the 60+ generation has turned into the opposite. Older people are suddenly seen as vulnerable, vulnerable and weak. The virus has made them victims of discrimination and isolation.

Getting by on your own instead of accepting help

But who actually wants to protect whom here? The result of a written survey of the German age surveys among almost 5,000 people between the ages of 46 and 90 in June and July 2020 suggests that the help for the so-called vulnerable people is well meant, but does not always go down well with the protégés.

Because according to the survey, not even every tenth person between 46 and 90 years of age feels threatened by the pandemic. According to the survey, health is more important than age. People who have good health ratings felt less threatened by the pandemic than people who did not.

backflip

The survey commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs is commendable. But can it effectively counteract the relapse into old and defunct role models?

DW editor Astrid Prange

The virus has not only digitized and modernized society, it has also made it more conservative. Household and childcare have increasingly become “women’s business” again in the wake of the massive restrictions, and fit seniors are mutating again into supposedly needy beings.

This irrational behavior is among the virus’s worst and most dangerous side effect. Because it not only exposes terms such as “best agers” or “mobile seniors” as empty phrases, it also discriminates across the board against a huge population group. And thereby endangers the cohesion of society, which is necessary right now.

The question arises: Why do we call doctors, pharmacists, firefighters, paramedics, nurses, teachers and police officers back from retirement in order to declare all over-60s to be a risk group in the same breath? Why do we expect the greatest sacrifices through isolation and loneliness to those of all people who have already contributed a great deal to the building up and cohesion of society?

The old people help each other

In an aging society, it is misleading to blanket out “the old” or “the older generation” to speak, because there is no such thing. Much of the assistance that sick or frail people make use of is also provided by representatives of the 60+ generation themselves, especially when it comes to caring for relatives.

Even after the Corona crisis, many of them will continue to be among the top performers in this society. A negative image of age, which generally classifies all over 65-year-olds as weak, senile and potentially at risk, hurts and devalues ​​an entire generation. Unfortunately, this mental virus cannot be fought with a vaccination.

– .

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.