Older Dutch Man Identifies As Younger Dutch Man

                Emile Ratelband is 69 years of age, but he identifies as a 49-year-old. Yet, intolerant and bigoted local authorities flatly refused to amend his age on official documents, so Mr. Ratelband, a pensioner, is suing them. The case has now gone to a court in the Dutch city of Arnhmen.

                Ratelband says he is routinely discriminated against because of his age, and encounters problems in society on a daily basis. He is an entrepreneur and self-help expert who, though born on March 11, 1949, says he feels at least 20 years younger, and therefore requested that his birth date be changed to March 11, 1969. He says he wants to go back to work and have a better chance with women on Tinder.

                Ratelband stated: “When I’m on Tinder and it says I’m 69, I don’t get an answer. When I’m 49, with the face I have, I will be in a luxurious position. He added, “Transgenders can now have their gender changed on their birth certificates, and in the same spirit there should be room for an age change.”

                The court is due to deliver a written ruling within four weeks.

                I say more power to him. Ageism is a particularly pernicious form of bigotry in Western nations today, one that sentences those to whom society arbitrarily assigned a birthdate at birth to an unending succession of offenses big and small. If one is held to be “too young,” one can’t purchase cigarettes or liquor, drive a motor vehicle or even frequent a brothel. On the other hand, if a person is viewed as “too old,” he or she will be prevented from legally having sex with those under 16, likely find it hard to successfully seek gainful employment, and probably be discouraged from driving a motor vehicle, especially after imbibing large quantities of liquor and leaving a brothel. They may even, at some point, be expected to die! One would think progressive politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would be laser-focused on addressing obvious discrimination, inequality and marginalization such as this, but one would be wrong. 

                When will the “woke” truly wake up and smell the (Starbucks) coffee? Anyone can be anything they want. Society considers me to be “married,” but I often identify as single in bars after midnight. If I identify as a toddler, Maori tribesman, transgendered mulatto bisexual, elder statesman, deity, Maxine Waters, or a toaster oven, who the hell is anybody else to judge?

                It’s a brave new world. Inhabited by people deathly afraid……of the truth.