To think we should forgive old people their transgressions?

[lboogy]

Reading a lot of threads here about PILs and parents and how irritating they can be has made me think about forgiveness generally.

Obviously each circumstance is different but for gripes like getting bad presents, being ignored, having rude off the cuff things said should we be more forgiving in the knowledge that parents & in laws may not be around for much longer and wouldn't it be better to ignore/turn the other cheek. After all when we get to that age and much of our support system has died we'd need our remaining family to be compassionate /forgiving to us.

@Genevieva

It’s interesting you should mention that. I think Muslim extremists are probably the other side of the same coin. Stuck in the past, unable to accept the world has changed, not capable of accepting that other viewpoints are valid, completely dogmatic and convinced they’re right.

Have you read The Satanic Verses? It is not an Islamaphobic book.

Of course it isn't, and I didn't suggest it was. But the backlash against the ill-informed protests was, and it is now widely accepted that the lot of the Muslim community in the UK was significantly harmed by the street protests.

By contract, the reaction by extremist Muslims resulted in a fatwa and the murder of the book's translator. It brought Islam into the headlines and made people from non-Muslim backgrounds wary about a religion that would encourage murder

Precisely. My shorthand "the Satanic Verses debacle and its backlash" meant just that.

This is it again though ffs! You’re absolutely determined that your views are right and as soon as you enlighten old people the scales will suddenly fall from their eyes. You’re asking for them to listen and understand, but you’re not extending the same respect back.

But the poster you've quoted is talking about gently telling old people that the things they believe cannot be said any more; why shouldn't we be telling old people who say racist things not to say them any more and express why? What is the alternative? To just let a racist old person on a hospital ward yell the n word at black nurses? To let a sexist old person try and grab the arses of female workers in a care home? Why shouldn't we think that our views are right? We can't say to old people, no we're not going to ask you to respect other people no matter what their race is because you're old and this might happen to us too when we get older, so go on denying permission for your bloods being checked by a black nurse Dad. Can we?

Why should we stop saying what we think is right to old people because views may change in the future and they were brought up in a different time? Donald Trump is in his seventies. He was brought up in a different time, do we owe him the 'respect' of listening and understanding his intolerant views when he is affecting other people? Should feminists not be feminists because views may change in the future and then people will accuse them of some kind of sexism in their old age? I think the poster you've quoted has listened and understood the old person they are talking about. They've mentioned that they have this mindset due to growing up in said racist/sexist/homophobic society.

What you're saying suggests that we're not allowed to tell elderly people that we believe what they're saying is wrong because in another time what we ourselves are saying may be wrong? That's ridiculous.