I'm disgusted with the young people .... (demonstrative post)

[AuntJane]

24% of people aged 18-24 voted Leave, and 12% didn't even bother to vote at all! I'm shocked and disgusted that over a third of young people happily sold their friends and their future down the river! What the hell were they thinking of, the selfish b***ds?

NO, I DON'T ACTUALLY THINK THIS. But the figures are correct, and this is the type of abuse that is being aimed at older people en masse - even though over a third of people aged 50-64 voted Remain. Apparently we're all evil simply for having lived that long.

It's offensive, abusive, discriminatory and, quite honestly, I would have hoped that Mumsnetters would have been above it. Unfortunately I was wrong.

So once and for all, can I please ask people to stop making sweeping generalised statements?

HEAR HEAR OP!

(In case that wasn't clear, I agree)

The extremely ageist thread last night should have been deleted, some of the comments were unbelievably offensive.

This. The problem isn't really the age of the voters, the people who didn't vote, or the people who spoiled their vote - it's that anyone dared to vote leave.

I'm not condoning it and haven't done it, but I think maybe you need to consider a wider context of feeling about people in that age bracket. They got a free education all the way through uni including grants you could actually live on and then imposed massive tuition fees and scrapped grants for the next generation. They are sitting on a tonne of family sized housing stock creating part of the pressure on housing. No younger people I know think they'll get much if any of a state pension, but look who gets protected pensions which haven't been cut or frozen. Even though the environmental impact of some of our actions has been know for a long time, people in that age bracket (who by and large are in charge) have refused to take action, leaving the mess for future generations to sort out. It's a wider pattern of generally quite selfish group behaviour without consideration of the impact on future generations. As I said at the beginning I don't condone it as a position, but that is where it's coming from.

Isn't also an offence under the Equalities Act?

Or is the legislation based on EU Human Rights just to be ignored when it suits people?

Why not address the posters who have been doing so directly on threads you're reading those comments?

EU Human Rights...

Remember those?

I'm shocked at the hate aimed at the older generations. I also have found that here on Mumsnet it isn't just about the election, it's in other areas too.
Having lived abroad many years I didn't find this same attitude towards older people on the mum boards I was part of.

Might have to say good bye to the Equalities Act...

Adrenaline I did, and I reported the thread.

Oh, both sides are at it! Some of the Leavers are claiming that the Remainers are fat middle class maniacs that are only worried about their shares. Not quite sure where they get that idea from!

And the crowing at people who are genuinely frightened for their futures has been disgusting to see. Those people need reassurance, not some idiot to sneer "you lost: deal with it!"

Just for future eyebrows I think it's Here Here, as in here I am- I agree etc rather than I can hear you sister!

I mean this in the least patronising way possible but I do fear it's going to come across that way :(

Well said. I'm fed up reading the ageist claptrap. Answering back on the actual threads just gives it oxygen.

Oh, the irony!

Picklebot, your comments are precisely what the OP is referring to.

TheImprobableGirl - you are wrong.

It is hear hear.

Well fancy that- not only was I a pretentious twat I was also wrong- it seems it is Hear Hear,

As you were goes back to coffee

I was getting there eyebrows I wholeheartedly apologise for sticking my completely wrong oar in :)

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hear,_hear

I thought your vote was anonymous, how do they know what percentage of what age group voted remain/leave?

See Improbable, us oldies do know a thing or two

I couldn't agree more OP..!!! I've apologised for my demographic time after time in the last 36 hours - as I'm as shocked and horrified at their (majority) decision as many of the posters.
HOWEVER, I'm now getting really, really irritated by the sloppy demonization of older people - it wouldn't be tolerated for any other group, so why is ageism suddenly okay?

Exit polls I imagine, Rose

But regarding the OP, I think it's disgusting that the age of people is brought up at all
Personally I think the 50-64 bracket are more knowledgable about past economies and have better knowledge of life outside the EU.

And the claptrap about passing it on to younger generations and then buggering off- that's utter shit. I imagine there are a larger number of European expats that have retired in Europe that this will deeply affect for years to come, decades to come in fact.

DEMOCRACY is everybody having a vote. Imagine if they had a vote on sugar tax and stopped all the obese people voting? It's bloody ridiculous, and I say that as an under 30-er just

It is a shame that so many people have lost the respect that the older generation have earned

Apart from eyebrows who obviously has grammatical problems

I agree, OP. But I'm sure I read (The Graun?) that the 'didn't bother to vote' figure was higher than 12%. Can't seem to find it just at the moment though.

This is based on the assumption, though, that there are the same amount of young people as older people where as there are overwhelmingly larger amount of older people that young people. We have an ageing population, which brings its own issues. Population demongraphics used to be represented by a pyramid shape, with the youngest making up the base of the triangle and then as you go up the triangle there were smaller amounts of people in each tier. Now that is no longer the case.

So blaming young people is just factually incorrect and saying that older people have had a far great influence on the outcome of this referendum is factually correct.