My late mother had Alzheimer's. It's not pleasent seeing someone regress.

of elderly RW men who are quick to anger, have forgotten how to behave in public, and have RW hate bumper stickers covering their vehicles. I seriously believe diminished mental capacity contributes to this.

We all have noticed persons who have lost the ability to filter their public responses.
No need to vilify such individuals, but do consider that possibility when choosing elected officials.

I say this as one who fully expects to experience that problem in not too many years.

People who were quite evolved when they were still with it become disinhibited and revert to stuff they learned by osmosis when they were kids. I saw this happen to a small extent with my own parents.

I hope my formative years in the Jim Crow south don't reassert themselves when I start losing my marbles.

However, most bigots are just plain bigots and enjoy being hateful.

a friend often in a nursing home. Kind of scary what happens to people.

Just like when people get drunk and all of a sudden say how they REALLY feel...

but in many cases, it hadn't been their true feelings for many years. It's what they were taught when they were kids.

My dad was always a bit of a bigot, just too much of a gent to make an issue of it or treat people badly. My mother was a raving liberal who fully supported all the civil rights legislation that came along. My mother got demented and more bigoted as she went downhill. My dad never got into full blown dementia, just the early disinhibition.

It was sad. I call out younger people on bigotry. I never called my parents out because I knew where it was coming from.

How about...

Mouth-breathing,

Inbred,

Knuckle-draggers.

There is nothing wrong with those who are mouth-breathing, or inbred (through no action of their own) or knuckle-draggers.

She is 69 and doctor has said she has had it for about 10 years but it was not noticeable until recently. Yes, it is gradual. Her brain cells are disintegrating and it will spread eventually to her automatic bodily functions. The progression can be slowed but not stopped. It is going to kill her.

We only started noticing something was wrong about 2 years ago. She would repeat things she said only a few minutes before. She also has gotten very violent more and more.

It is very, very sad. My SIL was once a very happy, fun person to be around.

I'm sure many so stricken notice and know that their minds are less than what they were, and they are helpless to do anything about it.
For them, it's part of the human condition.