Veterinarian treatments are probably better practiced on animals where they are intended.
But, with people, there's no reason we have to use animals. We could take in people who volunteer to be given a disease to treat. We could skip straight to human trials.
And this isn't just celebrities. Aldo Leopold, as strict as his views regarding animal testing are, is far more generous and permissive than the ideas of many animal ethicists who are entirely opposed to all research on animals.
There are multiple reasons to test on animals rather than people, as I mentioned, but I'd rather not post the links explaining why because going further on this tangent may derail the thread.
And as he explained, some jokes don't punch anywhere.
I agree with that. The main question is what kinds of jokes he would consider to be punching nowhere. Sometimes the target of a joke is the best judge of that, not the rich celebrity telling the joke without any exposure to the experience it mocks.
If we took out age and generation and replaced it with race it wouldn't even be a discussion. You are stereotyping, pigeonholing and judging based on a birth year.
Like, in America if someone is eating pork chitlins that person might be black. There is historic precedence, after all, and they are a soul food dish. But if someone is eating pork chitlins it's actually wrong to assume the eater is black because the eater may not be black or even American. It's a stereotype. And when you smell them and think black people are nearby you're probably leaning too heavily on stereotypes and assumptions.
A major difference is that unlike skin color or race, upbringing and prevalent generational values are often defined and influential in deciding a person's worldview.
I grew up with the internet, video games, and foreign movies. I could be a Millennial or Zoomer, depending on when you draw the line for each, and if someone said, "Your attitude toward comedy is similar to most in your generation," I would fully agree. I wouldn't find it ageist because age wouldn't be the sole focus or used as an absolute determinant of my values; it would merely give a general indication of where my attitudes on certain issues could be.
You have probably encountered such acknowledgment of the role that one's age may play as a potential predictor of some of their views, even from older people. When an older conservative bemoans the current "snowflake generation," they're not necessarily unfamiliar with the values of most younger people or being ageist; they just disapprove and express that in overly simplistic terms.
