those lazy snake people, wanting their work to matter
My favorite form of ageism is when people disparage young folk who want jobs with a satisfying social impact as naïve and even lazy (because they don't want to 'pay their dues' doing meaningless labor so someone else can make money). Like, here are people who *want to go out of their way* to do work that helps others and makes the world a better place, and you're admitting, almost in so many words, that your capitalist economy isn't set up to support that. But sure, Wall Street types who literally produce nothing but money are "contributing", while people who volunteer full time, or take care of their relatives, or work two jobs and still need food stamps, are "parasites". Uh-huh.