[E. Pluribus Unum]

Most of the population of the planet Earth live in third-world countries, and most third-world families sleep in one room on one bed. They don't earn or use much money, so they don't have formula to feed their babies, so they nurse long past the point where inhabitants of the first-world are offended.

You have to ask yourself who the real weirdos are.

[dfwgator]

You have to ask yourself who the real weirdos are.

We may be the weirdos, but then again, we don't live in a third-world country.......yet.

[Clara Lou]

So, in the 3rd-world context, breast feeding to the age of 5 makes sense. In the context of the rest of the world, though, it doesn’t. Breasts are sex objects. You favor public breast-feeding? Breastfeeding at work? I am asking myself who’s the weirdo.

[StAnDeliver]

"Most of the population of the planet Earth live in third-world countries, and most third-world families sleep in one room on one bed. They don't earn or use much money, so they don't have formula to feed their babies, so they nurse long past the point where inhabitants of the first-world are offended. You have to ask yourself who the real weirdos are."

Do they purposefully pose on the cover of a (rapidly declining circulation) weekly magazine to promote an article which was only peripherally oriented to breast-feeding toddlers?

My 3rd world experiences have taught me the people there disdain shock value (admittedly, I have not yet been to Thailand, but then again, much of Thailand is no longer 3rd world), and when they do, you will be duly and appropriately shocked, and it won't be peripheral to the point conveyed.

[Boogieman]

We don’t live in a third world country, so that’s irrelevant.

[Finny]

They don't earn or use much money, so they don't have formula to feed their babies, so they nurse long past the point where inhabitants of the first-world are offended. You have to ask yourself who the real weirdos are.

It's been observed, "There's no 'normal' life. There's just life."

Neither are "weirdos." They're just ways of life -- one in Western Civilization, the other in third-world places where freedom combined with a solid moral framework have yet to liberate their people to prosper. Here, it's disrespectful to peoples' dignity on a lot of fronts -- the kid in the photo, males in general because it probably puts them in the distasteful place of connecting childhood with sexual arrousal, and a large generation of women who were raised to be modest about nudity even in front of their own sex.

Necessity dictates the third world folks' approach; our own culture would be pretty nervous about seeing that Time Magazine cover replayed at, say, Disney World, or your kid's school play or graduation. A whole family in America bedding down in the same room year after year would raise hackles, and rightly -- what third world family with a lick of sense would prefer that?

Western civilization subscribes to modesty, because modesty protects privacy. Privacy respects dignity; where there is the prosperity to afford privacy, more respect is applied to dignity. But no matter where or why, the worst transgression that can be made against a fellow human, is to deprive him or her of dignity.

There are no weirdos here except for the exhibitionists.

[itsahoot]

You have to ask yourself who the real weirdos are.

Just a guess here but maybe the ones that pose for Time Magazine with their boob being sucked on by a three year old kid would qualify.