Wounded Warrior Project Goes "Political/Hypocritical" - Granite Grok

Wounded Warrior Project Goes “Political/Hypocritical”

Political ideology can corrupt the mind, and science.   E. O. Wilson

Wounded_Warrior_Project_25smallWhen this issue broke on the radio talk show and blogosphere arena. I was absolutely sick to my stomach. Awash in disappointment and dismay, I just could not believe what I was seeing and reading…I read it again…and again. I found myself so disheartened that so many of my colleagues out there were characterizing Wounded Warrior Project in the column of people and causes I loathe and despise. “Somebody please…say it ain’t so!” I am begging here.

So I chose not to immediately write about it, holding out hope that something…Anything would change. Nothing really has. The parsing of words and messages by the progressive wordsmiths at Wounded Warrior Project have indeed backpedaled, given the firestorm that erupted thereafter, but the “horse it out of the barn.” The trust quotient is compromised and corrupted.

Wounded Warrior project began as an organization whose mission is to lift up, empower and help those honored men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to this nation. Cash literally flowed into WWP and consequently the organization grew to the behemoth it is today. With that growth came the hiring of people with skill sets that, while they serve specific needs and challenges of veterans, the egos, ideologies and personal viewpoints that, well…are decidedly “liberal,” also came to WWP.  With that ideology (and control) comes the old human condition of inflicting one’s own personal tastes and preferences on the  its constituency. That is where WWP has gone off the rails.

The political climate in the nation today surrounding guns and the second amendment, WWP executives should have been smarter and took great pains to remain apolitical in that discussion. There would be nothing hypocritical about doing that while hosting and promoting the shooting and hunting events WWP alumni seek. Instead, they took a political position and went anti-gun.

Progressives in private organizations like WWP need to be kept in check and the leadership at Wounded Warrior Project absolutely, positively  failed to do that. Like Boll Weevils to a cotton crop, Progressives will corrupt everything noble, good and right, if not, at the very least leave the cause stained and scarred by controversy and mistrust.  If they do not want to stay mission focused, respectful and sensitive to the core values of its mainstream constituency, they should be fired right off. No questions asked. With an organization such as this, Progressive sensibilities have no place there. Period.

This controversy erupted when WWP stunned national syndicated Radio talk show host Tom Gresham, declining an interview request on Gun Talk Radio.WWP Public Relations Director Leslie Coleman responded,

“WWP does not co-brand, create cause marketing campaigns or receive a percentage or a portion of proceeds from companies in which the product or message is sexual, political or religious in nature, or from alcohol or firearms companies. Our position regarding firearms and alcohol is in response to the struggles that many injured service members face with substance abuse and suicide and the roles those items often play in those issues.”

Gun Talk radio never asked WWP to take a stand on the cultural argument over guns. Rather, Gresham and Gun Talk radio invited WWP on to talk about their mission, on Veteran’s Day. The audience at Gun talk is overwhelmingly veteran, pro-second amendment and not liberal. In fact, I would lay odds that, given the (alleged) mission of the WWP, all of us in the pro-gun community would have understood WWP simply stating, “While we have events that sometimes focus on firearms use, such events are purely for the support, benefit and enjoyment of our alumni and the organization remains apolitical in the overarching gun debate. It was WWP employees that went knee-jerk political, seeing an opportunity to take a poke at those who advocate for the second amendment.

WWP’s progressive anti-gun minions in their midst torpedoed this organization because personal anti-gun agendas of a few were allowed to seep into the public face of Wounded Warrior project. Even if we accept that these progressives were attempting to be subtle, they are often so blinded with by their ideology it always wreaks like a freshly road-killed skunk.

Hypocrisy! The Fact is,  many of WWP’s Alumn are gun owners. WWP has  in fact,  facilitated countless hunting and outdoor events for Wounded Warriors. WWP has, in fact, licensed the WWP logo to appear on many products, including firearms. WWP has, in fact,  sponsored and accepted funds of shooting sports-related fundraisers, firearms raffles, and shooting competitions. WWP has, in fact, accepted monetary and other charitable donations from  the firearms and shooting sports-related industry.

So when Steve Nardizzi CEO of WWP finally came on Gun Talk he did a great job explaining the policies driving this contentious debate. Obviously, Steve Nardizzi is a stand up guy because he didn’t throw the progressive hacks under his charge, “under the bus.” But I also sense a degree of weakness on Nardizzi’s part. Listen to his interview here:

Gresham and Steve Nardizzi interview

Folks will have to decide for themselves whether they will continue to support the Wounded Warrior Project. If nothing else, use this as an example of how anti-gun progressives in the midst of a cause such as this are willing to corrupt a cause for their own ends.

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