Offended by proxy - Can we not say anything without being told off?

Jumped up snobs with nothing better to complain about. That is the kind of person I refer to with this blog. We have all met one, be it in real life or reading a newspaper, hearing a politician or being told just why we cannot speak those terribly offensive remarks.

If I offend someone with my views, I apologise, but they are my views, they are the way I think and feel and are as much a part of me as my breath. If I offend someone wand they wish to explain to me why and try to educate me then I will listen and I try to understand their point of view. But if that person has no opinion or argument against my thoughts themselves except that I 'might' offend someone with my views then I'd prefer it if they kept them to themselves.

One of the arguments of 'can't say that you'll offend someone' that has really got my goat lately is how apparently making factual statements about formula milk for babies is making people that used this method of feeding feel guilty. Hmmm. Not once have I said 'Oh, you bad bad person, feeding your baby formula milk is tantamount to poisoning them with arsenic biscuits a la Flowers in the Attic'. No. My view on formula milk is that is an adequate and sometimes necessary alternative to breastmilk, breastmilk being the best possible source of nutrition and formula following in second place. The reason I feel this way? SCIENCE HAS PROVED IT.

What I do feel however is that it is despicable the way it is a product made by profit making companies at the expense of our babies, and that every time anyone makes a reasonable query about what it contains or how it is made or how it will affect our children in comparison to breastmilk the manufacturers spout the 'can't say that, making formula feeders feel bad' rubbish. It's not as if the people saying it are even trying to protect someone else's feelings. They are trying to protect their profits. Then of course we have the mothers who didn't breastfeed because they didn't want to saying that they are feeling guilty for not feeding because they have suddenly become aware of the facts. Whose fault is that? Really? The peopel that are campaigning to get the truth out there? Or the people that withheld the information in the first place?

Then of course we get the accusation of being 'militant breastfeeders'. Well, yes I breastfed my son, but I'm certainly not militant in any way shape or form and as I breastfed how on earth does it make any difference to me whatsoever as to what happens with formula milk? It affects me in what way exactly? It's obviously in the best interests of all mothers and babies to have more information about formula milk so they can make fact-based unbiased decisions. e about it rather than people with something to gain from the sale of formula complaining about the lack of advertising allowed in this area by acting offended 'by proxy'.
Hmm.