IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU AND YOUR FEELINGS!!!!

According to AP, Joan Baez (read: hairy, smelly, hippy), was not allowed to perform with John Mellencamp (Seriously, why was he there, too?) at Walter Reed hospital. According to the folk singer (implied meaning--sounds like a nanny goat):

"I have always been an advocate for nonviolence and I have stood as firmly against the Iraq war as I did the Vietnam War 40 years ago," she wrote. "I realize now that I might have contributed to a better welcome home for those soldiers fresh from Vietnam. Maybe that's why I didn't hesitate to accept the invitation to sing for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In the end, four days before the concert, I was not 'approved' by the Army to take part. Strange irony."

No, this is not strange irony. Your image and your name equate vitriol and lack of support. All YOU want is to assuage YOUR conscience by performing for the soldiers. YOU are there for YOU, not them! You would be performing for people you do not support. You cannot support the soldier without supporting the mission. It simply goes against all of their training and mindset. However, they do understand and respect your right to disagree.

Your presence would be like a slap in the face to those soldiers. It is not about YOU and YOUR feeling good about yourself. Just like those who go to the war zones to perform that really don't support things...it is done for looks and feel goods. These are the same people who say, "Bring them home now," without realizing that doing so would ruin a region.

Performing for the soldiers and their families is for them. It is an escape from some of the pain and from some of the realities of their wounds. It is about making them feel better. Someone like Baez appearing at Reed is like hitting them in the head with a bat and then asking if they'd like an asprin. Well, actually listening to her music is sheer torture. People actually go to her concerts? Willingly?

Maybe she should go on a tour of Iran with Jane instead.