[Publib] Employment Laments

[K.G. Schneider]

> > It seems odd to me that no one is jumping down Terri's throat for
> > saying young librarians are taking her jobs away like they were
> > yelling at Hillary (I think??) for saying there were no jobs because
> > older people wouldn't retire. Seems like it's tough all around. I
> > completely agree with Angela about the e-mail's writing- before you
> > put yourself out there, you might want to proofread first. I for one
> > would never hire Terri in my library after that rant. She came across
> > as a poor writer/communicator, racist, ageist and afraid of technology.
> >
> Is it list policy to permit ad hominem attacks such as this?

This is a personal response.

Ad hominem arguments (a rhetorical device, not a well-honored one) switch
the argument by attacking the person rather than the person's thesis. The
original post claimed that the poster could not get work because she was
white, an older female, and "competing with youth and multiculturalism." She
claimed, "Being in my mid fifties and white offering valuable experience was
not regarded but ignored by employers." That itself is an ad hominem
argument; without any other information we're supposed to accept that her
age and ethnicity disqualified her from hobs. So is "tech savvy," which is
code for, well, being tech-savvy. Since the argument was that the poster
could not get employment for these reasons, the assessment of this person's
job opportunities was acceptable within the rhetorical framework. (I do hope
we do not have a piling-on of yes she is/no she isn't.)

I actually feel some of the weight of being an older woman, in part because
even among people who should know otherwise, too often the assumption is
that older women are not "tech-savvy." But I hardly feel competition from
"youth and multiculturalism." These librarians are my allies in the effort
to improve librarianship, and they know a peer and ally when they see one,
regardless of wrinkles and grey hair. May all of us young (at heart),
multicultural, tech-savvy librarians prevail. 

Karen G. Schneider
(Founder of the Facebook group, "Over Fifty is Facebook-Fabulous")