Applewhite On Ageism

In this The New York Times article, “You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch”, written by Ashton Applewhite, the author touches on the controversial topic of age discrimination. Ageism is the discrimination against people of a certain age. Applewhite aims to show the audience how even those individuals who have honed their skills for years and have many different professional experiences under theirs belts, still have difficulty finding work due to reason not necessarily justifiable. The author also argues that the age at which this discrimination starts is lowering, meaning that even middle age individuals may begin facing this prejudice. Applewhite, a well established author of a book targeting ageism, talks about different examples of clear discrimination
Ethos is used to provide the reader with a sense of who the author is. Applewhite is a 64-year-old woman, making her a perfect example of someone who could potentially face ageism. By using terms such as “us” and “we”, the author attempts to connect herself to the audience, which in turn evokes an emotional response from the reader using pathos. This is important to note, because some people may not feel emotionally related to the topic of ageism, but Applewhite uses statements like the following to bridge that gap: “ Age segregation impoverishes us, because it cuts us off from most of humanity and because the exchange of skills and stories across generations is the natural order of things. In the United States, ageism has subverted it.” Once reading that statement, the viewer may relate ageism to their own personal relationships between differing generations, for example a grandparent and a
For example, her use of statistics and references to different studies appeals to the younger and older generations of careerists. On the other end of the spectrum, the author often uses language that is more generalized to the population in its entirety such as “…A dumb and destructive obsession with youth so extreme that experience has become a liability.” In total, the tone of this text is quite serious. For this subject matter, a serious tone is appropriate in order to not make light of a situation that truly needs attention from