Because,in actuality,not all elderly are deemed repectable.If Maralyn Manson were still alive,and he were elderly,would you tip your hat or curtsy him? I would'nt,but for those who ARE worthy,and respectable,I WILL bow to the wisdom of experience.*

Part of it is in advertising. In the western world, we look at models, who tend to be young and thin. In the eastern part, the see older people as sources of knowledge and respect.

Just a guess, but maybe elderly people are more respected in less developed areas as they are less common?

I have always thought it frustrating that we loose all the knowledge that they have accumulated over the years. Unless it is written down or passed on, look at all the valuable information that is lost when they pass away.

I suspect it is actually America's fault. You won't see me type those words very often either. . Firstly immigrants who came to America only sometimes could bring their parents. These parents often never learned English, nor did they know much about succeeding in America and much of the lore they did have was inapplicable. . Secondly with westward expansion a lot of people moved away from their families to start from scratch in far away states and territories. This meant that having grandparents nearby was no longer standard. . Thirdly, the Industrial Revolution must also have played a part as the most useful information - technological know-how - wasn't something older people necessarily had. . As other countries in the West modernized they developed similar attitudes while the East developed more slowly and was able to hang on to their filial piety. . It also doesn't hurt that some of the East has, on top of an honor-the-elder way of seeing things, actual ancestor worship. . A final note, though: respecting your elders begins with YOU. If a significant number of people do something it IS culture. I'm not recommending an over haul of Grandparent's Day (I assume there already is one) or any other national effort but that each of us lean on the respect the elder idea. . After all, unless you're planning to punch out early it's a pretty good investment.

It's a direct result of "the Cult of Progress" that developed in the 19th century, spawning among other things the Progressive Movement which deliberately created the generation gap so the new generation would be free to "evolve" being set-free the cultural contstraints and loyalties that transgenerational inculturation produces. Despite lipservice to the contrary, everything in the system was rigged to encourage teenagers to despise their elders (except for their really cool progressive teachers and mass-media stars). "Progress" and "Revolution!" not reformation and restoration is what is praised and lionized. Mass media, affluence, and the youth culture however have spread to the East and the younger generation here are arguably even worse now (in terms of respecting their elders) than their peers are in the West ... but with Asian manners (which are also disappearing) and Asian communication patterns it often isn't as obvious. That is, they don't argue with you, insult you directly, or flip you off, they just ignore you and talk with their friends ... snickering. Too bad they're also unbelievably ignorant ... at least they are in Thailand, and I've heard similar things from teachers in China and the Middle East. 90% of Thai high-school students -- even those in private schools -- can't find Asia on a map. All the boys sport the latest ridiculous fad hairstyle of Japanese pop-stars and anime characters but don't know where Japan is and are as likely to place Tokyo in China, Hong Kong or America as they are Japan. And generally, the more affluent the parents the more willfully ignorant are their children. For all the complaints about how rude and ill-mannered American HS students are, their IN-CLASS behavior is nothing compared to that of Thai HS. There's no power on earth that can get the class to shut up and pay attention; 90% treat class as one big social gathering so you wind up teaching to just the 3 or 4 students in the front who actually want to learn. There's also no way of getting any of the rest to do any homework. Cheating and coppying is the rule. I get entire papers downloaded from Wikipedia, still with the [edit] brackets and "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia" subtitle in place. Sadly, this is an offshoot of Asian culture itself: we're not allowed to fail them because they and/or the school would lose face. The kids know it. And so from the 6th grade on, most do absolutely nothing.