On Monday 25 July 2011, conservative commentator Glenn Beck compared the Norwegian youth killed on Friday with Hitler’s youth camps.
“As the thing started to unfold and there was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like the Hitler Youth. Who does a camp for kids that”s all about politics? Disturbing,” Beck said. [Listen to the first minute of his show.]
The analogy isn’t new. In 2009, Beck compared former VP Al Gore’s campaign to raise awareness about the environment and climate change to Hitler youth camps. From FOX News video, Beck’s pull-quote from Joseph Goebells:
If such an art of active mass influence through propaganda is joined with the long-term systematic education of a nation, and if both are conducted in a unified and precise way, the relationship between the leadership and the nation will always remain close. – Joseph Goebells
Citizen media immediately began sharing examples of summer camps in the U.S. that are similar to the 60-year-old series in Norway. Ironically, at least one series is sponsored by an organization that Beck reportedly founded in 2009, the “9/12 Project“.
I’m torn between ignoring him and wishing that he would somehow go away and giving him indirect publicity by shining this light on his hypocrisy. I’ve opted for light as a disinfectant.
See Storify for media coverage arranged chronologically.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com