The relationship between power and the elderly is so unbalanced that today in Italy (and in many parts of the world) it is impossible to read Trump's behavior, if not within the ranks of any individual prey to things that the newspapers define as "Narcissist", "liar", and is always classified as a "narcissist who believes himself to be omnipotent", or "bully", or "childish".

Aha.

But they could also save themselves all the trouble they do if they used the right word: senility. The concept of senility, with all its characteristics, is known to all those who have ever had to deal with an elderly person, especially if they are not self-sufficient.

But in Italy it is also a taboo, to the point that on wikipedia the only entry for "senility" is that of Svevo's book: the meaning of the term itself appears almost ignored, as if it were not to be talked about .

Senility, not necessarily to be confused with senile dementia, is the set of psychic characteristics attributed to, or observed in, people who are clearly elderly. Because senility is an exclusive attribute of a specific class of people, which are precisely the elderly: a non-elderly adult who behaves in the same way would be called infantile, narcissistic, intolerant, capricious, bully, but not "senile" , unless you want to bring up premature senility .

But senility is also a taboo, especially in countries where asking for a young leader is still "youthfulness", but then it is not clear what is the reason for having senior leaders at all costs. Not old: elderly.

When it is proposed to give the vote to sixteen-year-olds, the objection is always that adolescents have not yet developed that part of the brain that prefers the reality principle to the pleasure principle. Which is well known.

But no one goes to the neurologists themselves to ask what happens to the mind of the elderly when they become senile. Young people, therefore, are unable to think long term, it is said. Good. And the elderly?

Uhm. All sane there? All wise? All focused on the long term?

The answer is no: in the best of cases, the elderly do not think about the future, but about "after me". Which is the future, but it indicates death , the end . At worst they become, as in Trump's case, a bunch of childish selfish, monomaniac, narcissistic and bully.

Trump is not a narcissist, bully or childish. It is "senile".

But apply the category of senility in countries that still have a "senate", attributing to old age greater intellectual abilities, apply the category of senility to a religion where the Pope is called "young" when he is almost seventy, well , it's not just “taboo”.

It is a scandal.

You can't say "but what do you want that bunch of stoned old men to direct", but you can safely spit on the sixteen year old who doesn't have to vote. The same unions that have turned up their noses to see thirteen-year-olds demonstrating for the environment, have no qualms in bringing pensioners to the streets.

Trump is senile.

And it is a very strong risk that is run when an elder is elected to power: the risk that he will become senile while in office.

Senility is not a fault: it is an effect of age. It's biology. It's physical.

But choosing an already old person (like Biden) to the government means exposing oneself to the risk of becoming senile in turn. And Trump's example is not the only one: in Italy there was Cossiga.

Because senility is not invalidating. It's just a pathetic, ridiculous, childish, selfish, self-centered and overbearing period. Which is the same description that applies to children, and we often say that old people become like children precisely because we recognize their characteristics.

But the point remains this: what we have seen in Trump is a senile leader.

The word that no one has the courage to pronounce, because one could avoid a senile leader (in most cases) by electing younger leaders.

There is also a paradox: the same people who ask for a chamber of senators, that is, of wise people because they are old, when they discuss technological innovation they answer "yes, but the 73-year-old woman then doesn't know how to use a credit card, who understands of modern things? ".

Good. We try to make the necessary substitutions, and we have "yes, but then the senators don't know how to use the credit card, what do they understand about modern things?". And here the idiosyncrasy is revealed: senility is wisdom, but also incompetence . How the two things are together, only the supporters of senility in power understand.

Talking about senility as a factor that precludes you from power is not wise. IN a world where power is senile to some extent, it is as if we went to France in 1780 to say that nobility should preclude you from power. It wouldn't work well. Luigi was touchy. It could only work from 1789 onwards.

And the hypocrisy of the press was just this: always hiding the effects of senility, even to the point of excluding old age.

I have already written that the most rational solution for the covid would have been a complete segregation of the old, who are the ones in danger (the average age of the dead is still around 80, to say the least).

But the press reacted to this idea by throwing up the full list of the very few young people who died of Covid on the country. Point proved?

No.

Because now that the vaccine is out, and there is a shortage, the press is shouting "first the old who are vulnerable". And we are still at the same inconsistency: the 73-year-old old lady is a minus habens when it comes to introducing the credit card in shops, but she is a venerable and wise "senator" if we give her the power . LOL.

Likewise, the old are not to be isolated to protect them when they are afraid of being ripped from power, but they are certainly the most vulnerable when vaccines are distributed.

BUT let's go back to Trump, on which the same rule applies: Trump is not said to be senile. Yet it is evident: liar, childish, selfish, self-centered, moralizing but not moral, hungry for attention. These are all the characteristics of children, and of the senile elderly.

But to say this one would have to accept questions like “but should the elders vote? Should we put an age limit, like for young people? ”.

Could I answer Feltri, another portrait of senility, who is as incapable of understanding the modern world as a 73-year-old woman struggling with an ATM?

No.

Therefore "senility" is a word that must not be pronounced. Because it might make me doubt Mattarella. Of The Pope. Of Biden.

And that's too much, isn't it?