A Reddit user has posted a viral argument that young people should stop worrying about what older relatives think, and the thread is filling up with stories of grandparents behaving badly. The post, titled “We Need to Stop Pretending They’re Innocent,” has drawn around 723 comments as of publication, with readers sharing their own tales of elderly relatives who have lived through Woodstock, drug culture, and rock concerts.
The core complaint is simple: young people hide their tattoos, their relationships, and their lifestyles because they fear offending an older generation that has spent decades doing exactly the same things. The Reddit user wants to end the pretense that older people are morally superior, and the comments are full of examples to prove it.
Opening Thesis
The user opens with a blunt thesis. “What I mean by this is we need to stop watching what we say around old people. To stop worrying about what old people think.” The argument builds on specific examples of young people changing their behavior to avoid upsetting family members.
One anecdote involves a girl preparing for her grandmother’s visit. She took down all her “offensive” house decor, removing pictures of her boyfriend, hiding liquor bottles, putting away funny mugs, and swapping out clothes that weren’t modest enough for the grandmother’s taste. The user describes the grandmother as “hyper religious.”
Another example involved a mother asking her daughter to drive her somewhere. The daughter had to play no music in the car, fearing themes of drugs, obscenities, or cuss words. She also had to cover up her tattoos with foundation and wear a bigger shirt to hide her shoulders.
Pushing Back Against Innocence
The user pushes back against the idea that older people are innocent. “They had s– and had their fair share of curse words. They were around others who may have done similar things. Alcohol and tattoos aren’t anything new.” The post recalls parents who worked in a nursing home, sharing stories of older residents having relationships with each other.
“They’d shout racial slurs at staff and say every cuss word they could think of,” the user writes. “That may not be every old person, but old people are still adults and have lived a long life of sinning as well. We need to stop pretending they’re innocent and being so protective of what they think and what they’ll say.”
Distinguishing Complaints
The post distinguishes between two kinds of complaints. “It’s not a matter of old people not cussing in front of young people; it’s a matter of old people getting offended by everything they don’t like and making it known,” the user wrote. “It’s easier to tell your old relative to stop pointing out something they don’t like and complaining about it than hiding your true self just because you’re worried about what they’ll say. They say the younger generation is soft when they can’t stand seeing a woman with a nose piercing.”
The final stretch narrows the target. “Obviously I’m not talking about ALL old people. I can’t believe I need to say that. I’m talking about the ones who act as if they’ve never heard the word f—. The ones who act like they don’t know what s– is when they have had 8 children. The ones who clutch their pearls when they see 2 men k-ss or someone with a sleeve tattoo.”
Comment Section Revelations
The comments section has turned into a running joke about the very behavior the post criticizes. One commenter shared a personal story about their father. “I watched my 80 year old dad flirt with a nurse by sticking the tip of his tongue to his nose. Something I didn’t know he could do. Lol.”
Another user, in their early 70s, found the post hilarious. “Being in my early 70’s, I find this hilarious. Do the math; we grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, Woodstock to cocaine in every dance club bathroom. Any older person who can’t be near pink hair is either faking it, has Alzheimer’s and can’t remember their own youth or is Amish. A screaming teenager at a Beatles concert is now well over 80.”
These responses capture the tension the post aims to resolve. Older people have lived through decades of cultural upheaval, yet some act as though they never did. The commenters suggest that the problem isn’t age itself but the refusal to acknowledge past experience.
“It’s easier to tell your old relative to stop pointing out something they don’t like and complaining about it than hiding your true self just because you’re worried about what they’ll say.”
The Irony of the Thread
The post’s title asks young people to stop pretending older people are innocent. The irony is that the thread itself is full of stories that undermine that very point. Grandparents who shouted racial slurs at staff, flirted with nurses, and lived through Woodstock are hardly innocent figures.
The stories circulate freely online, but the paper cannot confirm them.
What the Post Gets Right
The post identifies a genuine social pressure. Young people often censor themselves around older relatives because they assume those relatives have stricter standards or more conservative views. The post argues that this assumption is wrong, and it draws on specific examples to make its case.
The comparison between a grandmother who hides liquor bottles and a grandfather who flirts with a nurse is instructive. Both are adults with long lives behind them, and both have their own moral codes. The post suggests that younger people should stop accommodating the former and start acknowledging the latter.
The post also captures a generational shift. Older people who complain about tattoos, piercings, and casual relationships are often the same people who lived through the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Their current complaints about young people’s behavior mirror the complaints their own generation faced half a century ago.
The Comment Section’s Own Hypocrisy
The comment section itself is a case study in the post’s argument. Readers who agree with the post are sharing their own stories of grandparents who were far from innocent. The irony is that these stories prove the exact opposite of what the post intends. Instead of proving that older people are judgmental, they prove that older people have lived interesting lives.
The post’s title asks young people to stop pretending older people are innocent. The comment section answers by showing that older people are not innocent, but it does so in a way that undermines the post’s central complaint. The hypocrisy is the point. The post argues that younger people should stop hiding their true selves, but the comment section shows that older people have been doing exactly that for decades.
The Bottom Line
The post has struck a nerve. It is a reminder that age is not a moral shield, and that older people have their own histories of rebellion and excess. The comment section proves the point, even as it undercuts the post’s framing.
The post’s argument rests on individual experiences, and the comment section adds more of the same.
The post’s main contribution is rhetorical. It forces readers to confront the gap between their assumptions about older people and the reality of their lives. The comment section reinforces that gap by showing that older people have their own stories of rebellion and excess.
The post’s argument is compelling on its own terms. It is a call to honesty, even if the honesty is uncomfortable. The comment section, with its tales of flirting nurses and Woodstock-era hedonism, is a reminder that the past is not always what we remember.
Key Facts Box
– Reddit post title: “We Need to Stop Pretending They’re Innocent”
– Comments as of publication: ~723
– Examples include: grandmother with “hyper religious” tastes, father who flirted with a nurse, 70-year-old commenter recalling Woodstock-era drug culture
– Post argues older people are not innocent and should stop being protected