Congrats to Howard Eglit-New Book

Congrats to my dear friend, Howard Eglit of Chicago-Kent on the publication of his new book, Age, Old Age, Language, Law: A Dysfunctional—Often Harmful—Mix and How to Fix It. Howard sent me an email, describing his book

In late March, 2014, my  latest book came out.  It is titled “AGE, OLD AGE, LANGUAGE, LAW:   A Dysfunctional — Often Harmful — Mix and How it Fix It.”  It is self-published and can be purchased through Lulu.com.  Part of the book deals with employment discrimination, but the majority does not.  Rather, the main focus is on the use of language as a mechanism both for creating and for nurturing age bias generally, as well as in the employment arena specifically.   To this end, I spend time addressing the really very large number of negative epithets — “geezer,” “crone,” “coot,” “gaffer,” “troll,” “cotton-top,” etc. — and pejorative adjectives — “over the hill,” “used-up,” “demented,” etc. — applied to older people.   This state of linguistic affairs contrasts with the virtual non-existence of negative terms applied to the middle-aged and the young.

I also address — among other concerns — the downbeat depictions and general absence of older people — at least vibrant, involved older people — in television programming, movies, so-called celebrity magazines, etc.  I point out the ‘gosh-isn’t s/he amazing news stories that by indirection reinforce the notion that the rare older athlete or adventurer is just that — rare — in contrast to the large supposedly decrepit oldster population.

Obviously, there are very significant First amendment and policy concerns involved in any proposal to curtail or censor objectionable (to some) language, and I spend a considerable number of pages talking about various law-based approaches that might or might not pass First Amendment muster:  libel, slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, fighting words, captive audience analysis, hate speech, regulation of speech in the workplace, FCC regulation of television programming, etc.    Concluding that at best these approaches offer little by way of curtailing ageist speech, I turn to other, non-law-based approaches:  community organizing, self-regulation by the media, education and enhanced awareness about the true qualities of older men and women, etc.

I am half-way through the book and it’s quite interesting. The book runs 324 pages, exclusive of notes and authorities.  The final paragraph bears repeating here:

I am not foolish enough nor am I optimistic enough to believe that the solution for the vice of old-ageism is simply language change. Old-ageism is incredibly pervasive throughout American culture, practice, politics, economics, and so on. But cleaning up the verbiage is one piece of what is and will be an exhaustive, often discouraging , but necessary long-term campaign. And the bottom line is this: trying to do something is better than just doing nothing.

The book is available here for purchase for $24.00. Congrats Howard!