Glenn Beck, You Just Don't Get It.

Ridiculous. It's one of many words that one could use to describe the recent comments made by Glenn Beck in the wake of the unspeakable tragedy that happened in Norway recently. The teenagers that were shot and killed were at camp sponsored by the left-leaning Labor Party of Norway. I'm sure that politics were one of many topics that the campers were in engaging in. Mr. Beck went as far as to compare this camp to the Hitler Youth. He went on stating, "Who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."


Funny, because when I was 17 years old I went to a camp all about politics. It was right here in the United States. It was called LeadAmerica. I learned about the U.S. campaign and election process, party politics, and visited the Capitol among other things. I met people my age from all around the country who, like me, were interested in politics and like to engage in a political forum. Given, LeadAmerica is not an organization that is sponsored by Republicans or Democrats, and many of the other National Youth Leadership organizations aren't either. But I definitely don't think that I was engaging in anything close to what the Hitler Youth were asked to do.


Besides, if the Democratic or Republican Party were to sponsor summer camps for teenagers to go to learn about government and the American political system, would that be such a bad thing? Would a camp even run by the Tea Party be damaging? I don't think that any of them would be. Yes, the teens would probably be given information that would have a slant that favored the party sponsoring the camp. But how is that different from someone listening to just Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity or Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow??


Glenn Beck's comments couldn't have been more insensitive. Norway is grieving from its worst national tragedy since World War II. The last thing they need is saying that their political system is troublesome and that they are corrupting their youth.  Take a look around the country, Glenn, and you will see that we have political summer camps here too. Democrats and Republicans don't have their hands in them, but they are far from being 'disturbing.' Take it from someone who went to one not too long ago, and now has friends working at them. We turned out just fine.