To the Editor:
According to “When Did We Get So Old?” (Sunday Review, Aug. 31), “Johnathan Rodgers, who is 68, knew that it was time to step down as president and chief executive of the cable channel TV One” when he saw that he was the oldest person at the conference table.
Why is this any more of a reason for stepping down than being the darkest-skinned person at the conference table? And why accept the view of Dr. Roger Gould, a psychiatrist, that old people are “the ones the world can do without”?
As a member of the baby boom generation, which fought racism and sexism, I see no reason to knuckle under to ageism.
FELICIA NIMUE ACKERMAN
Providence, R.I., Sept. 1, 2014

The writer is a professor of philosophy at Brown University.