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Acceptable Inevitable Targets: Difference between revisions
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A subset of [[Acceptable Targets]]. These examples deal with targets that, God willing, will happen to all of us at some point in our lives, and will thus almost always inevitably end up being [[Hypocritical Humor]].
{{examples
'''The elderly'''
People in their sixties and beyond are mostly portrayed as useless and doddering. Comedies make fun of them, dramas are concerned about them but in a somewhat condescending manner. Whatever the [[Competence Zone]] of your show, expect these folks to fall way outside of it. [[Cool Old Guy|Cool Old Guys]] are the exception. Don't also forget how many people decide that, when they're old, [[Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!|they can be as rude as possible and get away with it]]. And when it comes to middle-aged or old people having sex, especially when both partners are the same age, the reaction is either played for gross-out laughs or is seen as straight up horror. It can be assumed, however, that the young people reacting in this manner will change their tunes when they find themselves middle-aged or old themselves.
== Examples ==
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== [[Real Life]] ==
* Particularly, due to changes in opinion over time that holds in more or less all of the Western World, the elderly are considerably more likely to be shown to be [[Racist Grandma|racist, sexist, homophobic]], and the like. Sometimes this appears more innocently, when somebody's grandpa just doesn't realise you don't say "Chinaman" or "colored" any more. Or it could just overlap with [[Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!]].
* This [http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein4apr04,0,5974152.column editorial by Joel Stein] discusses how presidential candidate John McCain's age is an acceptable target for political satirists (''[[The Daily Show (TV)|The Daily Show]]'' and ''[[The Colbert Report (TV)|The Colbert Report]],'' for instance, are fond of jokes about how he's spoken to Lincoln, walked with Jesus, created the first cave paintings, though that part was actually a [[Lampshade Hanging]] on their normal use of the joke) and concludes that the elderly are [[Acceptable Targets]] because we'll all get old some day, and these jokes help us to deal with this fate.
** McCain himself has been remarkably good-natured about age jokes; when he hosted ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' one sketch was a mock campaign ad wherein he announced that only he had "the courage, the wisdom, the experience and, most importantly, the oldness necessary" to be President. It doesn't help that his lifetime [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/usa/2008/08/one_of_john_mccains_campaign.html\] dates back to 1840, nor that he made a major campaign issue out of what an acquaintance of Obama was or wasn't doing when most of the electorate were too young to vote.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* See most of the works of [[Roald Dahl]], especially ''[[Matilda (Literature)|Matilda]]'', although the one nice adult (Miss Honey) is pretty much the coolest teacher ever. Acknowledged by Dahl himself in the preface to ''Roald Dahl's Guide to Railway Safety'', where he stated that ''Matilda'' was far and away the most popular book he had written for children because his audience knew that he understood their frustration at having adults tell them what to do.
* [[A Series of Unfortunate Events]] portrays all the adults in the series as [[Kick the Dog|incredibly]] [[For the Evulz|evil]], [[Adults Are Useless|incompetent]], or [[The Obi
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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== [[Film]] ==
* The movie ''[[Monster in Law|Monster-In-Law]]''. As per the title.
* Mrs. Marcus in ''[[
== [[Manga]] ==
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== Examples ==
== [[Literature]] ==
* In the ''[[Harry Potter (Literature)|Harry Potter]]'' series, Ron Weasley once failed a Muggle driving test and had to use [[Laser
** He also once failed an Apparition exam, basically like a wizard driving test.
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'''[[Muggle|Muggles]]'''
Similar to Humans, many settings that depict some sort of [[Differently
== Examples ==
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Let´s summarize this.
Of course, no matter how cool your life is (or better, how cool [[Small Name, Big Ego|YOU]] think it is), sooner or later, someone will find a way to make you an [[Acceptable Target]]. It ''will'' happen, and getting defensive about it will just make you look more ridiculous, so learn to laugh at yourself.
{{reflist}}
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