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Anti-War Baez and Army Hospital Ban


RonJonSurfer

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Mellencamp Upsets Soldiers; Baez Banned at Walter Reed

Mellencamp did perform at the medical center, but Baez was banned because of her anti-war stance.

Rocker John Mellencamp's Friday performance at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. wasn't a treat for all the soldiers recovering there - many felt he should have stayed away.

Angry military patients at the veterans' hospital were upset Mellencamp was invited to perform there after he made it clear he was against the war in Iraq.

California soldier Mike Shaw, who broke his back in Iraq in March, said, "I say if you're not supporting what we're doing you're not supporting me."

Folk-singing peace activist Joan Baez was banned from joining Mellencamp onstage at Walter Reed because concert organizers felt her long-time anti-war stance would upset many wounded soldiers.

Walter Reed spokesman Steve Sanderson says, "These additional requirements were not in the agreement/contract and would have required a modification."

But Mellencamp has offered a much less complicated explanation: "Joan had her plane ticket and hotel booked. They didn't give me a reason why she couldn't come... They said, 'She can't fit here, period.'"

Copyright World Entertainment News Network 2007

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Thats silly. They aren't oppossed to the soldiers, just the war. Which was started by goverments anyways. The soldiers are just doin' there jobs, everyone knows that. So in saying they are Not for the war, people are really saying they aren't pro the reasons for, or the politics involved in, the war. The mind boggles....:crazy:

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Funny part of this is that all of our soldiers are keeping us a free country where you have the right to your opinion, and with Mellencamp and Baez, they are against war, not the soldiers themselves. I am against wars, but at the same time I respect anyone who is in the service. And when lives are lost it hurts us all. Mellencamp and Baez I believe care for the soldiers, they just don't agree with the person who put them in this war, our President as many people don't agree on his decision. I don't like to see people get so divided when it comes to opinions on involvement in war. There needs to be more respect of another persons opinion and don't use anger to get your opinion across. In the end we all want the same result, peace.

Ok guess I went on my soapbox a little. I just care about people and want a better world for all of us.

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Damn those hippie musicians exercising their right to free speech guaranteed in the Constitution of the nation that the military is sworn to protect. Damn them. :stars:

My dad is in the army, but when Springsteen started vocalizing his opinions on the war, Dad remained the huge Springsteen fan he always was...

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A lot of soldiers believe in their mission and support the government. They probably feel that any attack on the government and it's possition is an attack on them and the job they are doing. I would imagine someone who is recovering from a serious wound recieved in combat or who lost a buddy (or both) would not want to hear from someone who is vocal against the war.

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I'm gonna just put in my 2 cents here as I don't like war and I don't like governments using their armies as though they are playing a board game. Governments send troops all over the place without thinking that they are actually playing with real human lives. Mellencamp probably did use the wrong stage to voice his opinions though, as "free" as our countries are supposed to be. :crazy:

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A lot of soldiers believe in their mission and support the government. They probably feel that any attack on the government and it's possition is an attack on them and the job they are doing. I would imagine someone who is recovering from a serious wound recieved in combat or who lost a buddy (or both) would not want to hear from someone who is vocal against the war.

Now I understand your point too... it´s very logic. Though I guess music has nothing to do with war, I can understand that many personal feelings are involved and Joan Baez or Country Joe and other pacifists might be seen as they are not supposed to know whtat these soldiers are going through. Many of these soldiers might agree with them, but others don´t, and we cannot blame them for that.

Marc, you´re making my brain work a bit now... :P

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Well, yeah we can see how they support the individuals not the war, but military people are not going to see this.

And, really, Joan Baez should have known better. I love her and I hate war, but how can she not realize that most wounded soldiers obviously would not care to see her. They are trained and I believe brainwashed to fight for a pure cause. While they may be rethinking that in recovery, someone with a well known history of protesting the war/government is not a good choice for a hospital setting.

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One must understand that an effective military is called a "unit" for a reason. There ideally are no individuals. All work toward a common purpose in sychonicity to increase the opportunity to save the lives of the unit members and win the objective. When I went into bootcamp, I was struck at how we got off the bus as individuals but within 3 hours we were all head-shaven identically, wore the same clothes and were given numbers - all as a way of removing our individualism. This is how it MUST be in order for a fighting force to be most effective. Bob Hope entertained troops successfully by bringing entertainment news (wrapped in humor) and beloved entertainers from back home that the soldier/sailor loved. He invoked little to no politicizing during his monologues, just fun entertainment, as a diversion for awhile. It would be possible for any entertainer to do that today as well, but we all know that somewhere in her act Joan Baez is going to bitch about what the unit has been about, or the president, who is, afterall ONE of the troops. The top troop. No matter how much anyone loves an individual in "the unit," to diss the unit's commander is to foment mutiny, which in the long haul will destroy the unit.

This is not about free speech or dissenting opinions, it is about harmony of will within a unit where loss of focus means drastic loss of lives and a slowing of winning the peace. Not unlike firefighters or cops, there is procedure that offers best chance accomplishment, learned through years of experience. The last thing the unit needs is for an outside voice to move among it and whisper, "Don't do what you are told, I have a better plan."

I was in that situation during the Vietnam war and I will tell you from firsthand experience, dissent causes chaos, confusion and a breakdown of essetial life-saving comaraderie needed among the members of the unit. Why don't all the war protestors picket and sing in front of Osama's cave or Holyman Sadr's offices? A little dissention in THOSE ranks might REALLY bring peace!

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I can see Ron and Marc's point of view...it's not right for anyone, not just an entertainer, to go to a veteran's hospital and spout off against war. It's insensitive. I was just going by the article, and it seemed like Mellencamp simply went to entertain. If he shot off his mouth, then that wasn't right.

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