AGE DESCRIMINATION

 You probably think I'm writing about age descrimination because I'm old. Not so!  It's because I saw a movie the other night that had a warning preceeding it: i.e. "This movie may not be suitable for children under the age of 13."   That got me thinking along these lines.   How is that age chosen?

Of course this was due to a Motion Picture Association (MP) rating of PG-13 Parents Strongly Cautioned.  They also have an R rating which means anyone under the age of 17 must be accompanied by a parent.  Topping that is NC-17 which apparently means no one 17 years of age or under permitted to watch no matter with whom they are accompanied.. It's funny how 17 became the decisive age.  I'm not sure how this is policed.    Is there some liability for the theater if a 16 year old girl walks in with her 17 year old boyfriend?  By the way, there were no ratings or restrictions when I was young.  I guess they didn't need them.  

Of course, the military decided long ago that 18 was the decisive age for voluntary service without parental consent.  The U.S. Army recently raised their maximum enlistment age from 35 to 42. All of the U.S. services are slightly different.  The Marine Corp maximum is 28 years of age .  

Voting is now allowed for 18-year olds - it was 21 when I was a kid.   How much they have been taught about the country and world was evidently not taken into consideration. 

Ohio changed their law restricting the purchase of tobacco products from 18 to 21 in 2020.  In my day, a room in our highschool was designated a senior lounge in which smoking was allowed (it was stopped before I got there).  I smoked in classes at the university.  

Alcohol in Ohio is now restricted to 21 year-olds and up.  When I grew up, you could buy and drink beer which was less than 3.2% alcohol at 18.  That has been discarded - now everyone must be 21.  It's funny that they have different rules for servers/waiters/carryout workers/bartenders.  To handle and serve alcohol in open containers in a restaurant, a person must be 19.  To sell alcohol in a closed container, a person must be 18.  To serve and put together alcoholic drinks in open containers for on premises consumption, one must be 21.  

A person must be 21 to rent an automobile but under the age of 25 an additional charge is allowed.  As a result, not many are rented to those under 25.  Descrimination is allowed.

You see, it wasn't about OLD age.  

But, I am still sore that I had to give up playing softball in my early70's.