Glenn Beck in trouble over Norway-Hitler Youth jibe
GLENDA KWEK
Firebrand US talk show host Glenn Beck has sparked controversy over his comments about Norway's massacre victims.
In a monologue on the syndicated radio show The Glenn Beck Program, the conservative commentator said: "There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler Youth or whatever. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."
The Hitler Youth - Hitler Jugend - was an organisation set up by Adolf Hitler in the 1920s to indoctrinate young Germans in Nazi ideology.
Sixty-eight people died after self-confessed Norwegian "crusader" Anders Behring Breivik opened fire at the ruling Labour Party youth camp on Utoya island, which was attended by 600 people, on Friday.
Eight people died after the bombing of Norway's government headquarters in Oslo on the same day. The Labour Party is seen as left-leaning.
A former press secretary to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg slammed Beck's statements as a "new low", saying they were "ignorant" and "extremely hurtful".
"Young political activists have gathered at Utoya for over 60 years to learn about and be part of democracy, the very opposite of what the Hitler Youth was about," Torbjorn Eriksen told London's Daily Telegraph.
"Glenn Beck's comments are ignorant, incorrect and extremely hurtful."
Another Labour member and political scientist, Frank Aarebrot, told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet it was "just frightening that there are people who are doing such terrible ... stories like this".
The worst thing is that some would see Beck's comments as objective reporting, he said, labelling Beck a "vulgar propagandist".
Tea Party supporters in the United States have hosted their own political youth camps, the Telegraph reported.
GLENDA KWEK
Firebrand US talk show host Glenn Beck has sparked controversy over his comments about Norway's massacre victims.
In a monologue on the syndicated radio show The Glenn Beck Program, the conservative commentator said: "There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler Youth or whatever. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."
The Hitler Youth - Hitler Jugend - was an organisation set up by Adolf Hitler in the 1920s to indoctrinate young Germans in Nazi ideology.
Sixty-eight people died after self-confessed Norwegian "crusader" Anders Behring Breivik opened fire at the ruling Labour Party youth camp on Utoya island, which was attended by 600 people, on Friday.
Eight people died after the bombing of Norway's government headquarters in Oslo on the same day. The Labour Party is seen as left-leaning.
A former press secretary to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg slammed Beck's statements as a "new low", saying they were "ignorant" and "extremely hurtful".
"Young political activists have gathered at Utoya for over 60 years to learn about and be part of democracy, the very opposite of what the Hitler Youth was about," Torbjorn Eriksen told London's Daily Telegraph.
"Glenn Beck's comments are ignorant, incorrect and extremely hurtful."
Another Labour member and political scientist, Frank Aarebrot, told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet it was "just frightening that there are people who are doing such terrible ... stories like this".
The worst thing is that some would see Beck's comments as objective reporting, he said, labelling Beck a "vulgar propagandist".
Tea Party supporters in the United States have hosted their own political youth camps, the Telegraph reported.