[Original Subject: Breastfeeding in a time of war]
So this isn’t exactly health in Taiwan, but it would be interesting to see some comments, especially from those who’ve been soldiers.
The American soldier in this article is a wimp, IMNSHO.
I’m not sure what the fact that it was a time of war has to do with anything. Would this man have responded differently if there was no war? Who was the American soldier you talk about? I think there’s something in that article I’m missing…
I would probably freak out a bit if a woman had to change her baby’s diaper on a plane right next to me, but would probably just think she was being extremely impolite and not make too much of a scene.
I’m not a big fan of breastfeeding either…would never even think of bringing a baby near my breasts, but I don’t think I qualify to be a parent, so I guess my opinion doesn’t count.
Breastfeeding good.
Diaper changing Bad, bad, bad! I would have been insisting on an immediate transfer to First Class. Airplane tickets are too expensive to have to have the additional indignity of being subjected to the smell (and sight?) of human shit especially baby shit, which is twice as stinky and available in bizarre shades of green, yellow and brown. (I vividly remember changing my kid brother’s diapers when I was a boy - I still wake up screaming sometimes…)
Copied from the article:
“He marched past me and to the very back of the cabin to talk to the flight attendant,” she wrote. “He told her, ‘This woman just assaulted me.’ … He then explained that the asking of two questions by a ‘foreign national’ in international airspace made him feel the victim of terror and as such he wanted to file an assault charge.”
She says the flight attendants also began to call her and her travelling party “foreign nationals in international airspace on an international flight during a time of war.” And she was informed both of the complaint and that it could be upgraded to a Level 3, which meant possible mandatory detainment by U.S. authorities for 24 hours, RCMP involvement and criminal charges for an act of war upon an American.
and…
In the end, Wolfe says things were resolved when she signed a document promising that she would neither break Continental’s rules about such things, nor speak to American passengers.
twonavels, sorry, I must have been reading too fast. I thought this guy was a soldier. He’s just an ‘American male.’
I agree the diaper changing might be a little offensive. Now I don’t find it offensive, but I can certainly see how others would. Personally, I try to change my babies’ diapers in a more private place but I also remember that those tiny little lavatories on airplanes don’t make it very easy… and I’m on the smallish side.
Maoman, you’ll see in a few years when you have your own–4 month old breastfed poopy is MUCH less offensive than your brother’s was, or forty-year-old poop. If she had been discreet about it, the guy probably wouldn’t even have noticed. I’m not kidding.
I realize also that we’re only hearing the woman’s version of this. Maybe she was being belligerent to the attendants and to that passenger, but to call it an act of terror and threaten her with detainment… as the writer says, give me a flippin’ break.
[quote=“Braxtonhicks”]Maoman, you’ll see in a few years when you have your own–4 month old breastfed poopy is MUCH less offensive than your brother’s was, or forty-year-old poop. If she had been discreet about it, the guy probably wouldn’t even have noticed. I’m not kidding.
[/quote]
Aha! Ahaahahaha! You just paraphrased almost word for word something my good friend said a few years ago as he prepared to change his kid’s nappy in front of me. Know what? He was WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! 
Tink about it though, Maoman – at least if the woman did that next to you on a long flight, you could retaliate by freely allowing yourself to fart whenever you chose, as loud as you like, too…