Are (political) oldies really ‘goodies’?

They stand there before you, these candidates for the highest offices in the land, either in person or on your screen, with the gravity of at least 4 decades having shaped their personality, trying to convince you that they can pull off a better future for you. I leave it to my other colleagues here in Rappler to help present the individual credentials of these candidates. I want to explore 3 things that are generally happening in the brains of older people that distinguish them from the brains of younger ones which could help explain why they think and act the way they do. And maybe it will help us judge if they are really fit for the offices they want to claim.

1. K for “Kutspa.” I just coined this from the real term “chutzpah” which means sheer audacity.

You may notice that older candidates seem to have achieved a level of comfort as to what they have achieved that they act more confident and convinced that who they are is what the country needs. They do not shy away from self-promotion and many of them even make jokes about their own imperfections. This makes them feel that, as we say – they have “k” (for “karapatan” or the right to be this way). I think it is more of “kutspa” than “karapatan” because this is not necessarily based on solid credentials as having “kutspa” does not necessarily mean their achievement is really worth anything. Studies have shown that the main personality traits that point to being more outward-oriented, more emotionally stable and more organized are pretty set by the time you are 40. Older candidates are convinced that since they have already saved themselves from the slings and arrows that their lives have thrown at them, they are confident that they can save us, our families, our country and even our pets from Armageddon. It is up to you to validate whether indeed, they have already saved themselves from their own past (whether it is a hang-up from childhood, a “scar” in their family record or a real misdeed which only they know) to have the “karapatan” to rescue or lead us, our communities and country.

2. “N” for “Negatrons.”

Most often, these older candidates can only see black or white in everything. They think that things that fall in between or above or below their own ‘standard” of looking at life or the world, are simply ‘wrong”. This is because the frontal lobes of older people begin to shrink by the time they are 40 so imagine the shrinkage as you grow even older. Shrinkage here does not necessarily mean dumber but it could. This is because this shrinkage makes older brains find it more efficient to rely on stereotypes or the patterns that they have been used to their entire lives.  This would explain why most older candidates think LGBTs should find another planet or that gays belong to lower evolutionary rung in the ladder of life. Their own “planet” inside their skulls find it really difficult to accommodate new patterns, even if those patterns are more faithful, not to mention “kinder”, to how the world works. If you have candidates who are not yet even 40 but exhibits this kind of inflexibility, it may be a good and kind idea to suggest to them that they have their frontal lobes checked if it has aged prematurely.

3. “A” for “Ako.”

We usually associate the “its all about me!” personality with teenagers but a study has found that it is also the same for older people but with a different slant to it. Researchers found that older people cultivated more self-esteem if they held on to their old beliefs. This could explain the kind of conservatism mostly in older people. They feel like their personal worth is tied to how much they could preserve their own views of changing societies. Their familiarity with things makes them feel like they have inhabited their own spacetime and that strengthens their own self-worth. This could explain why it is not just about political views. It is personal to them.

These are just 3 things that could be explored in this column. I am sure the older brain has other abilities and inabilities, surges of perfection and imperfections that warrant volumes of wordy explorations. But these are the things that struck me as most useful as I listen to campaigns now.

The older brain is not necessarily dumber; but it could be. The older brain is linked to the younger brain. This means that what was fed to the younger brain – whether it is the rewards of a dictatorship, corruption that they have justified and rationalized to themselves and their kin, “fraternity” systems which are juvenile, a “padrino” system which is feudal, a nuclear view of the family and a binary view of gender which grossly shortchanges what makes us human – especially if they benefitted from it or gave them a feeling of ‘self-worth” (or self righteousness) – is more likely to be even exaggerated in the older brain.

But age is not a refuge. You do not get to save or revise yourself just because you are old. You really have to revise yourself to save yourself.

So maybe when we see our older candidates with their chest-thumping and horn-tooting, we will see through them. While the older brain is more stable and has the benefit of experience, it should just be more than old – it should surpass the tendency to cage itself into the patterns it was used to when it does not fit reality. Choose the older candidate not because of his or her experience or views but may be more importantly, for his or her ability to surpass it. – Rappler.com