Yon is not only a disgrace to the human race, he IS a menace to our troops. On a day when I choose to honour a very special fallen hero, Sgt Patrick Tainsh; on a day when I choose to share the great things our troops do every.single.day, what does Yon do? He posts war porn. To be exact, he posts a LiveLeak video of a soldier as that soldier is wounded. I will NOT watch it, but I gather there is graphic audio and all.WTF? As my regular readers know, War on Terror News has been researching and publishing a series of columns examining the ethics (or actually the glaring lack of same) and modus operandi of Yon. Scroll down my sidebar and you'll find them here. If you have been reading along, you will have found the FACTS - the truth - about Yon, which still many of his FaceBook fans refuse to recognise. I was not going to write about Yon until WOTN had finished their series. Yes, WOTN has more to come, but today I am so outraged, I could hold off no longer.
In the past, I have written about media "personalities" who have stepped over the line of decency, and printed pictures of Marines dying, and who basically use our troops to boost their own egos(and public accolades.) In Yon's case, he struts - and stomps - on the backs our troops to finance his escapades (foot massages in Thailand, anyone?) All the while, his mindless sycophants send him $, and ' oooh' and 'aaaahh' at his supposed insightfulness (oh yeah, and integrity)as he 'supports the troops.' They slobber all over him in gratitude because he DARES to share what others will not.
As WOTN has noted, the internet is a big place, room for us all as we exercise our freedom of speech, but POS like Yon ignore the responsibility that comes with that right. That right, incidentally, bought and paid for by the blood of heroes like Sgt Patrick Tainsh. The right to freedom of speech (and to prove you are the lowest form of life) bought and paid for by the blood of heroes like Chuck Z (that would be MAJOR Chuck to crap like Yon) who had this to say this morning on Yon's insatiable need to gain attention by posting this video of one of our heroes being wounded:
Chuck Z is a wounded active duty American hero, and Yon is not fit to carry his weapon. You can find more about, and from, Chuck here. (He's one of those heroes that Yon tries to belittle by labelling him a *milkook*, and yes, Chuck is also one of the "Banned By..." Yes, I am honoured to be in the same group.
Yon will no doubt bleat that anything he publishes provides a public service. He'll insist that what he does, contributes to the public's 'right to know,' so that they can better 'understand' the war and what is really going on. He often justifies his bs by implying that he is brave enough to go where the msm dare not venture. Today? Again he proves that he is no better than any of the tabloid hacks he supposedly disdains.
Today, I KNOW that Yon has pissed off more than one soldier, but that's not all.
From Claire (Blue Star Mom and one time Blue Star Wife):
I wrote this back when the Dover ban was lifted. I was writing about Gold Star families, but simply think "wounded" and it's appropriate:
"We can not calculate the cost of war by looking at the budget and we most certainly can not, ...should not, and must not try and calculate the cost of war by exploiting our fallen soldiers and their families at the most painful and intimate moment they face. We do not need to turn our fallen soldiers' flag draped caskets into soap-boxes to preach to this Country the cost of war.
If you do not know the cost of war by now, then shame on you!
If you do know the cost of war by now and feel you need to peer into the darkest moment of a Gold Star families journey, then double shame on you!
If you don't know the cost it's because you choose to not know. It's because you are not looking, listening and you are living so deeply within yourself that you can not see the world past the end of your own nose. Peering into the grief, pain and sadness of a Gold Star family when they need privacy and protection will not teach you anything. It will only allow you to understand the cost of war as seen at the tip of the nose of our exploitative media."..(reprinted with her permission)
'Exploitative media'? EVERYthing Yon does is exploitative of our troops, and their families, strictly for his OWN gain.
So today, Yon has managed to anger and upset both a MAJOR (and I am sure Chuck's wife, who Yon should know better than to piss off,) a Blue Star Mom, and yes, a whole bunch of Americans who understand very well that broadcasting war porn is not necessary for the general public to gain insights into what war means.
From Nina:
just in case my comment 'disappears from his post -[Bratnote: Yon bans people's comments on his FB page that don't conform to the 'Yon is great and can do no wrong' meme ] here it is: "You know . . . I really really wonder how that soldier, his family, his friends, and the men in his unit feel about having this video published by LiveLeak and then republished in various places by various people...
I just cannot believe that the knowledge that that video is out there can in any way shape or form help that soldier's recovery. Our men and women in uniform are amazing people who serve at the tip of the spear to protect us all, and they d...o so knowing the dangers. It is never ever good that an American Soldier is injured. But to my mind, it is even worse that that injury - when happening - is videoed and then splashed all over the world for everyone to see . . .and quite possibly use in a way that is highly detrimental to all our men and women in uniform." (reprinted with permission)
Nina may have trouble believing that Yon would pull this stunt, but I do not. Too use acronyms my American friends have taught me: SNAFU and SSDD.
Yon wrote the other day that he will be in Afghanistan, 'covering the war' I suppose, within 9 days. The history of his work proves to me that he has NO integrity, no ethics, no moral compass (at the risk of being redundant here) and IS a hazard to our troops.
Time and again Yon has proved that he has NO shame, and if there is any justice in this world, he will be kept far, far away from any of our troops.
Yon is a disgrace and should crawl away into oblivion, where the only person he could distress, or cause harm to, would be himself.
UPDATE 1 on his ignorance:
Just got a message from a Gold Star Mom, a friend. In case any of you do not know, a Gold Star Family is someone who has lost a loved one in the war. This mom wrote to Yon privately expressing her opinions on his posting the video. His reply? He told her she is "impolite" and "ignorant."
Yon? You do not EVER talk to a Gold Star Mom like that. If his ignorant 'fans' STILL do not understand what a POS is, I despair.
UPDATE 2:
From War On Terror News:
02/11/2011
Yon Publishes WarPorn
Let me see if I can say this with the appropriate level of tact and candor: War On Terror News CONDEMNS the actions of Michael Yon for publicizing the video and the French Film crew that published the video of an American Soldier's wounding and medevac. Let me be clear: There is NO excuse for publicizing that video.
I stand with Chuck Z, a Wounded Warrior. I have not asked to quote Chuck and if he wants it removed, I will. I doubt he will:...
WOTN has more, and they say it with far more class than I managed. Go read it all, here.
UPDATE 3 from an active duty coalition partner:
Whoa, yeah, that one gave me a little ptsd buzz. Pretty sure those that care know what's going on on the battlefield. Have a vid of my worst wounding, guess I can put it up now.....
The SOP still in effect by the coalition is all photos taken & vids taken of wounded & medevacs have to be approved by the wounded soldier if their face is shown, didn't watch this long enuf to see if his face was visible......as to why yon picks now to do it, dunno, traffic to his site I guess. Hopefully some good will come out of this, maybe more people will pray for us every day, need alot of prayers always. (Yes, reprinted with written permission.)
2 comments:
He doesn't have any shame at all. And the followers he has are missing the larger point - that he is a danger to our service men and women . . .I could go on.
One person named Ted posted in reply to my first comment that the video highlights a conundrum of reporters supposedly being neutral. I completely disagree and posted the following:
"@Ted . . . I wouldn't consider it a conundrum at all. You are correct in that the video does and likely has affected the morale of many soldiers - especially those directly affected by the video. If LiveLeaks published the video with a disclaimer that states "published with the permission of the soldier and his family" - it would be a different story. But I highly doubt that LiveLeaks took such steps. I can only hope and pray that the soldier in the video along with the rest of the men in the unit and his family are strong and won't suffer from this type of intrusion on their lives as they all - especially that soldier - work to recover.
I would much rather have that soldier be the one determining if the video be published and it be published at such a time that he can tell his story in HIS way - not have it told by someone who is supposedly a neutral observer/journalist/reporter/blogger - whatever the heck he wants to call himself.
There are many many other ways to make the point that this war as with all wars throughout history is dangerous, horrifying, and full of moments of bravery. I don't believe that this video is one of those ways"
Needs sayin, yon is not worth to lick the sweat off a soldier's balls. These type videos are all over the internet, usually videoed with a long range lens....& usually posted by our taliban enemies & yes, the majority of Danes here have long ago put yon on our list of enemies. Not sure what his sick problem is or his loyal followers continue to kiss his fat ass but we're very very tired of his crap. 9 days huh? Wonder what xcuse he'll use for his Afghan visa being denied??? Surprise yon, we know people in lots of Governments.
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