Age Does Not Signify Authority

I might as well open with a controversial but true claim: anyone who thinks that the old in any society should be treated by default as if they are reasonable, right, or helpful for inquiring into matters of truth has beliefs infected by fallacies.  I know that this will offend some, but I care about discovering and defending truth, not protecting the feelings of others or preserving illusions for the sake of either societal or individual order or happiness.  The young and old often have different fallacies, but each general group (of course not everyone within each group is unsound or irrational!) usually does have major errors in their reasoning and different assumptions that they either inherited or chose to operate on.

Paul targeted this attitude when he charged the younger Timothy with not allowing anyone to look down on him because he is young (1 Timothy 4:12).  Because of both reason and Biblical revelation, young Christians need not be anxious or hesitant to challenge the beliefs of their elders, for unchallenged beliefs can easily both become and conceal false ideas.  If you seek truth, do not yield to appeals to authority, tradition, and popularity; do not hesitate to tear down the feeble walls that anyone older than you thinks will protect his or her ideas.

The age of a person, whether it makes them "old" or "young"--and there is nothing that is objectively old or young, only things that are old or young by comparison to other things--has nothing to do with the veracity of any claim from that person and thus, totally irrelevant to matters of truth, needs to be wholly ignored in investigating the correctness or maturity of the person in question.  A recent conversation with someone who asserted that she would automatically judge an older person to be correct and sound over a younger person reminded me that this asinine belief needs to be challenged, dethroned, and exposed for the fallacies it represents.

Do you believe the following four statements?

An "old" person does not possess or need to be granted special believability or perceived trustworthiness simply because of his or her age.

An "old" person's conclusions are not true or logically sound simply because of his or her age.

A "young" person is not incorrect, foolish, inexperienced, or unsound simply because of his or her age.

A "young" person's conclusions are not untrue or logically unsound simply because of his or her age.

Do you disagree with the previous four statements?  If so, you are illogical and not reliable as a seeker of truth in at least this area.  A genuine seeker of truth will challenge every authority, never give a status of assumed authority or truthfulness to anybody (those who do this commit the fallacy of special pleading), and will trample on the fallacious traditions of the majority.  I want to see these bullshit attitudes and beliefs disappear entirely from Christian subcultures.  To defend them is to oppose reason itself, which no rational person will do.