You know things have really exploded in their faces when the editor of the only national English newspaper has to step in to issue a statement.

The Straits Times had published a flame bait rant, "Some parents' overuse of prams is a truly distressing social ill", by Jeremy Lee, on Aug. 5, 2014, decrying pram-using parents as a menace to society and that they should be stopped.

As reported in an earlier post, the ST piece achieved its aim of getting all the clicks, but at the same time, it also received a tonne of angry reactions from otherwise children-doting measured parents, who left behind hundreds of Facebook comments.

You can read the original article here and the real-time update of reactions here.

And in an attempt to soothe frayed nerves, the editor of ST has stepped in to leave a note at the end of the article and claim that ST is a "pro-family newspaper".

This is not before defending ST's policy of publishing "a variety of views, so long as an opinion isn't rude, distasteful and contrary to public order".

This is the full note:

Send your views to [email protected]

Editor's note:

"The Straits Times policy is to publish a variety of views, so long as an opinion isn't rude, distasteful and contrary to public order.

Mr Lee's article was clearly not anything of that sort.

Nor did it detract from our long-standing position as a pro-family newspaper.

We are happy to run views that disagree with those of our writers if they add to the discussion on the topic."

You can read the original flame bait rant and determine if it is merely an opinion that isn't rude, distasteful and contrary to public order.

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