# I Pit Cynthia McFadden **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 4, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cynthia-mcfadden/620842 "2012-05-04T06:54:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cynthia-mcfadden/620842/41 "2012-05-05T13:30:40Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > And read the next two sentences of my post. Strangely enough, they address the rest of my position. Being old or sounding old by itself is no reason to end someone’s career in broadcasting. She is able to communicate to her guests and to her audience and the sound of her voice does not in any way affect her effectiveness. Well, if people have trouble listening to her, then it does. But so what if some folks don’t want to listen to old people? You act like age discrimination, in your personal life, is some crime. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cynthia-mcfadden/620842/42 "2012-05-05T13:35:05Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > I haven’t followed him closely, I’ve just seen him a few times on a few talk shows, and he seemed pretty smart on those. Obviously, if he’s an anti-vaccination conspiracy nut, then I withdraw my endorsement. I just thought that if being a Bush can get a moron two terms as President, then a Kennedy should get at least five. There’s also the little matter of having been arrested for heroin possession. Besides, he’s a NIMBY environmentalist. He did publish an anti-vax conspiracy piece in Rolling Stone. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cynthia-mcfadden/620842/43 "2012-05-05T13:45:14Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Well, if people have trouble listening to her, then it does. But so what if some folks don’t want to listen to old people? Then they should get over it. At the very least they shouldn’t be advocating that someone doing a perfectly good job should be fired over it. The fact is that Rehm does do her job very well and her voice does not interfere with her performance. She does it as well as she always has. The fact that there might be a few people who are so shameless as to say something that amounts to “I don’t like listening to old people’s voices” doesn’t chance that. This is hearkening back to the days when air hostesses were fired for getting married or teachers had to quit when they got pregnant. Everyone gets old and at some point they sound old. That should be a factor in their careers. Hell, Andy Rooney stayed in broadcasting practically up until his deathbed. Roger Ebert has appeared on TV when he doesn’t even have a voice box. People get old, they get unwell. So long as they are able to convey information, it’s outrageous to actually advocate that they be fired for such a shallow reason. > [@](#): > > You act like age discrimination, in your personal life, is some crime. To me, someone saying, “Diane Rehm shouldn’t be on the radio because she sounds too old” is no different than “Dave Chappelle shouldn’t be on TV because he looks too black” or “Christiane Amanpour shouldn’t be a reporter because she’s too feminine” or “Anderson Cooper shouldn’t be on TV because he talks too gay.” I haven’t been the subject of age discrimination personally. But that doesn’t mean I or you or anyone else won’t at some point. We’re all going to get old, so we should view every instance of age discrimination as if it is happening to us, personally. By the way, there is a federal law that prohibits age discrimination in employment. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cynthia-mcfadden/620842/44 "2012-05-05T14:15:35Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > “Christiane Amanpour shouldn’t be a reporter because she’s too feminine” I doubt many people are lining up to make this claim. I like Ms. Amanpour, but lately she looks a lot like Fred Armisen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-cynthia-mcfadden/620842.md?page=2)