SMART bus driver refuses to transport nursing mother....

[fryar]

Well where there may have been ambiguity, the drivers now know the policy.

I'm not trying to give the driver a pass or anything. I'm just hesitant to advocate someone's firing outright. Perhaps the leadership failed to inspire the personnel with a sense that the "mail" must go through, through wind or hail or whatever.

That said, what occurred is not ok. The buses have to get people to work. The only reason we can be serene in knowing that something of great importance did not fail to happen is because people of at least some means do not take the bus when critical things are at stake because, well, the bus is unreliable. Because of chickenshit. Like bad maintenance, or bad management, or this episode.

Nothing underlines the idea that buses in the region are not a world-class system of choice more than this farce.

Breasts are made for babies to use. The whole sexualization of the female breast is a Euro-American aberration.

I imagine we might have Queen Victoria to thank for it, although I also think you may be casting the net a bit wide on that one. I'll be more than happy to introduce you to one of Europe's nude public beaches, nekkid kids running round nekkid adults unperturbed and all, if you need convincing that this degree of prudishness is not emblematic of Europe. Of course, when at Rome's beaches... so depending on your tastes, you may not enjoy the tour as much ;-p

No, but this is a thing about the US, that the social acceptability of breastfeeding on an out of the way bench at Disneyland is [[or has been) questionable. I don't mean to America-bash, Europe's having unnecessary issues integrating Muslims, but this is one area where there's definitely more squeamishness on this side of the Atlantic.

They rounded up 70 women awfully quick for this one.

I don't think so, either. This is an issue that is personally important to people who, by and large, are more likely to have the ability to show up and participate in the first place. It's also understandable, I think. Whatever the ratio of women who firmly believe that breastfeeding is preferable, they must be sick and tired of feeling like they have to advance some social agenda every time they want to feed their baby and they happen to be in a mall, not at home, when it is demanded of them by the baby. For each one that goes, I imagine there are many thousands that would, if they had time then, if they had their babies now instead of back when, if they lived in Detroit, if they actually did believe in breastfeeding, etc. They really care about this, it's personal to them. As this thread suggests, this is [[apparently) about public breastfeeding, not a failure in vital urban infrastructure.

Not to discount your general dislike of a lack of standards with regard to social graces.