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James Chappel is an associate professor of history at Duke University and a senior fellow at the Duke Aging Center. He is the author of Catholic Modern, and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, and The New Republic. Whats the big idea? Aging in America is becoming one of our countrys most important policy arenas. With more old citizens than young ones, the relevance of elder members in society has never been greater. Despite great progress in the quality of old age over the past century, there is much need for growth in terms of practical policy and cultural perceptions. Below, Chappel shares five key insights from his new book, Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age. Listen to the audio versionread by Chappel himselfin the Next Big Idea App. 1. Population aging is one of the biggest historical transformations of our time. We think about population aging as an issue for medicine and finance, but we dont usually think about it historically. From the broadest perspective, population aging is one of the biggest changes that has happened to American society in the past century. Many people think of politics, iPhones, or AI when considering dramatic societal change, but those things matter less than major demographic changes. Human life is not what it was a century agoits twice as long!and that deserves much more attention. 2. Weve only been seriously contemplating population aging for a century. Most of the major things we deal with as a society (education, politics, health, war, gender) are topics we have publicly debated for centuries. We have reflected long and hard on many subjects, but no one really paid attention to population aging until about the 1930s. Even people thinking very hard about social reform and progress, like Karl Marx, werent thinking about aging at all. So, aging is an issue that has a pretty short history. What to do with old age and how to pay for old age are areas of reflection with a lot of space open for creativity. Its an exciting, vibrant, fresh avenue for collective contemplation. 3. There have been many different approaches to aging. We often think of aging as something nonideological. Education is ideological, and the military is ideological, so we have robust public debate about the meaning of these things. But old age is kind of like, well, you get Social Security and Medicare, and we dont want to think about it too much beyond that. Old age is in a moment of ideological stasis. But for most of the past century, theres been much debate about what it means to age well: socially, politically, and justly. There has been socialist aging, conservative aging, green or eco-conscious aging, etc. One tradition I look at is critical race theory. From that perspective, the history of aging looks quite different. There actually was a robust tradition of Black thought about aging. A lot of inspiring Black leaders said, essentially, that racism and prejudice follow Americans through the whole course of life. Older Black Americans have all kinds of negative outcomes, and Black activists suggested specific reforms to bring the insights of the Civil Rights Movement into old age politics and policy. We need to reinvigorate and repoliticize old age. We should remember how political and divisive it was (and therefore, how exciting it was) to debate old age just a few decades ago. 4. 20th-century solutions to old age are very good. Historians are often quite down on American history. They tend to focus on the persistence of inequality, violence, or disenfranchisement. But when it comes to old age, the situation is much better than it was a century ago. A century ago, older people often lived in squalor, in one-room shacks with dirt floors. There were only a few elders because public health was so bad. Now, older people are quite economically privileged, and they have access to the best poverty reduction program in the country, which is social security. Theyre the only age bracket with something like socialized medicine through Medicare. Theres a lot to be grateful for as aging Americans, but theres also a lot left to be done. There are failures in old-age policy, especially for people over 80, the old old. Issues of frailty, nursing home care, and things like that. Many American middle-aged couples, especially women, are financially or emotionally devastated by caring for older relatives. This is a result of a policy decision that could have been approached differently. There were approaches on the table that would have lessened the burden on unpaid caretakers, and it is not too late. When we think historically about old age, its important that we tell an optimistic story. Im excited to get old. There will be way more social programs for me when Im 65 than I have available to me now. But theres also room for growth, especially in dealing with policy for the old old. Nursing homes and extended care will be the most important policy arenas in the near future. 5. Getting old is an adventure. Old age in America can be very good. It can be very fun. You have access to so much when it comes to opportunities for leisure and health. But what I mean by the adventure of old age is a bit different. As Americans, we tend to believe that we make our biggest contributions as citizens when were young, that politics is a young persons game: green energy, Black Lives Matter, and other movements are for younger people, and old people can step back. I think that is absolutely not true. That is a completely outdated way to think about American politics. I think the age of youth has eclipsed. There are more older people in America than younger ones. The decisions we make about how to age and think about old age policy will matter now more than ever. Being provocative, I might even say that decisions about aging are going to matter more than decisions about youth because I think the age of the youth is over. Theres been a major demographic transition in this country and many others. As we age, we should not think of ourselves as becoming less relevant. We should think of ourselves as becoming more relevant. This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
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A popular true crime YouTube channel has been pulling in millions of views with videos about gruesome murders. As it turns out, None of them are real. One of those videos, titled “Husband’s Secret Gay Love Affair with Step Son Ends in Grisly Murder, claimed to detail a gruesome crime in Littleton, Colorado. After it amassed nearly two million views, viewers reached out to local reporter Elizabeth Hernandez. But there was no record of the crimebecause it never happened. The murder was entirely fabricated by a YouTube channel called True Crime Case Files that used ChatGPT and AI-generated imagery. According to 404 Medias Henry Larson, over 150 similar videos had been uploaded to the channel in the past year, each racking up tens of thousands of views. Other videos carried titles like Wife Secret Affair with Neighbors Teenage Daughter Ends in Grisly Murder and Coach Gives Cheerleader HIV after Secret Affair, Leading to Pregnancy. Hernandez contacted the police about the fake crime videos and the channel was deactivated earlier this year. Paul (a pseudonym created by 404 Media to protect his identity) told Larson that he created the fake true crime news to make viewers question why they were so interested in such salacious acts. While his methods are dubious at best, the question itself stands. More than half of all Americans say they consume some form of true crime, with Crime Junkie and Dateline NBC (the original inspiration behind Pauls videos) both among Apples 10 most popular podcasts of 2024. Im trying to overdose the viewer on luridness, to try to confront them with the fact that they seem to be so invested in the luridness of it all, Paul told Larson, defending his AI-generated work. Peoples secret lives, their secret affairs that are really taboo. The videos were popular and lucrative enough that Paul was able to work on them full time. Before his account was made unavailable, he would create up to two videos a week, each taking around 2.5 hours to finish. A YouTube spokesperson told 404 Media, We terminated the channel in question for multiple violations of our Community Guidelines, including our policies covering child safety that prohibit the sexualization of minors. However, Paul still defends his videos. True crime [] at the end of the day, it’s a form of entertainment. Viewers are watching this not to be informed about things that will affect them personally, he told Larson. They’re really just there to be entertained and to have a thrilling mystery with some lurid elements.
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Workplaces have started offering more customized benefits over the past decade, even including niche offerings that help employees navigate major life changes like divorce. As demand has increased for fertility coverage and mental health support, for example, many employers have actually doubled down on these benefits in recent years, despite economic headwinds. This week, the virtual healthcare provider Maven Clinic released a report that indicates the trend is continuingeven as the cost of family-building support and reproductive care has risen across the board. Of the nearly 3,800 employees surveyed, a third of those pursuing fertility treatments said they had gone into debt to do so, and more than two-thirds of respondents said they had switched or considered switching jobs to land better fertility benefits. Among people who were pregnant or planning to expand their families, nearly half were concerned about how the political climate and new administration might impact their reproductive health. At the same time, however, providing these benefits is becoming prohibitively expensive: In 2024, insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family healthcare coverage jumped 7% and crossed $25,000. In Maven’s survey, which also polled nearly 1,600 HR leaders, 70% said that fertility-related expenses had increased, and those affected almost universally expressed concerns over the rising cost. Still, at the moment, employers are continuing to invest in fertility benefits. Nearly half of HR leaders said they are planning to expand fertility coverage following the election, while 69% plan on further investing in family health benefits in the coming years, with many opting to add benefits like preconception care. A significant portion of employers (65%) are also expanding reproductive health offerings for men, including fertility support and more equitable parental leave policies. It’s likely a welcome investment, judging by Maven’s findings: The vast majority of men surveyed said their reproductive health needs were not being served, or that they weren’t sure where to seek out additional support in that arena. It seems many employers regard family-building and fertility benefits as a crucial part of attracting and retaining the best talent; according to Maven’s survey, 84% of companies that provide strong support to parents said almost all of their employees returned to work after taking parental leave. In a moment when corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are under attack, some employers might also see the value in continuing to shore up benefits that help build a more diverse and inclusive workforce.
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