I'm usually not the one to think that older generation is a backwards bunch through and through but in case of many world leaders and decision makers I'll make an exception.
> Common sense
We're having a frigging climate crisis and still not acting on it. So - nope.
> Life experience
From different era where world was a bit different, slower paced and pretty much black and white with two genders, fossil fuels and without those pesky women, gays and other minorities raising their voices.
> Ability to listen to others
This would presuppose empathy.
> Curiosity
As on having open mind to new ways of doing things? Nope.
> Empathy
Straight out nope again. Much, if not most of world's problems are exactly because of the lack of empathy for our fellow man and disregard for the future i.e. their own children. Nope, empathy is nowhere to be seen.
Geriatrics in power seem to make very slow and very wrong choices.
Your first paragraph targets world leaders but then your comments seem a bit ageist to me when IMHO they apply to most people regardless of age:
> We're having a frigging > climate crisis and still > not acting on it. So -nope.
Last time I was at a tech conference (fortunately years ago) the bulk of the audience and speakers were people in their 30s or younger and a lot of them had traveled long distances to get there. A few were frequent conference speakers traveling several times per year, all in very climate-unfriendly airplanes.
I see a lot of people under 30 who get expensive ICE cars as they progress in their careers, not to mention that if they have a good career in terms of revenue they’re most likely involved in something that negatively affects climate. I could go on.
> From different era where > world was a bit different, slower paced and pretty much black and white with two genders, fossil fuels and without those pesky women, gays and other minorities raising their voices.
Civil rights are surely not an invention of the current young generation. I’d argue that if we have a more vocal civil rights/social justice movement now it is thanks to all the people who are now over 70 or even dead and who were fighting that fight in more conservative times. This is also not something that’s uniformly distributed in the world or even in “civilized” places (sadly, I’d add), as I keep stumbling upon very young (decades younger than me) bigots far more frequently than I’d like (ok, to be honest, I’d like that frequency to be 0).
> This would presuppose empathy.
If all the young people you interact with are emphatic you’ve no idea how lucky you are. Suffice to say that school continues to be hell to a lot of weird kids right this very moment, that ain’t a problem that went away. That’s because most people are bigoted regardless of their age. If anything, I’ve seen a-holes become a bit less of that as they grow older.
> Geriatrics in power seem to make very slow and very wrong choices
I’ll take the role of unsolicited editor to your comment and suggest that you just say “People in power seem to make very slow and very wrong choices”, that would make it accurate.
"without those pesky women, gays and other minorities raising their voices."
Consult the calendar. When Joe Biden was young, the Sixties were in full swing and the voices you mention were already pretty loud. They didn't have overwhelming results yet, but the path towards them was already being very visibly trod.
What you describe was an even earlier world - and we do not have that many centenarians in positions of power. Queen Elizabeth is pretty much the only important head of state to be still surviving from that period.
> Queen Elizabeth is pretty much the only important head of state to be still surviving from that period.
Even then, the Quiet Generation built things; roads, schools, libraries, arenas and institutions that are being destroyed by under-funding and neglect.
> Common sense
We're having a frigging climate crisis and still not acting on it. So - nope.
> Life experience
From different era where world was a bit different, slower paced and pretty much black and white with two genders, fossil fuels and without those pesky women, gays and other minorities raising their voices.
> Ability to listen to others
This would presuppose empathy.
> Curiosity
As on having open mind to new ways of doing things? Nope.
> Empathy
Straight out nope again. Much, if not most of world's problems are exactly because of the lack of empathy for our fellow man and disregard for the future i.e. their own children. Nope, empathy is nowhere to be seen.
Geriatrics in power seem to make very slow and very wrong choices.