# Young Obama supporters = Hitler Youth **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 6, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669 "2008-10-06T14:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/41 "2008-10-06T22:42:02Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I don’t think its standard for Black fraternities and sororities to march around in fatigues making a smashing fist motion. How do you know? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/42 "2008-10-06T22:43:42Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > How do you know? I don’t. I just assume they aren’t retarded. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/43 "2008-10-06T22:53:48Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I don’t think its standard for Black fraternities and sororities to march around in fatigues making a smashing fist motion. Sure it is. I was able to [find this within two minutes of searching](http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=5136214). Or [this, from the movie Stomp the Yard.](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20xsj_steppin-final_music) ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/44 "2008-10-06T22:57:18Z")
> [@RyJae](#): > > [2026 Election Results, Latest News & Updates | Fox News Elections Center](http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/06/middle-school-teacher-suspended-obama-frat-spat/#) > > Teacher was fired (eta suspended sorry didn’t read link for comprehension) for the video apparently. I can see why he was suspended, but damn–the lesson taken from this (for the kids) will NOT be it’s ok to dream and look up to leaders. It will be if you step out of line, you lose your job etc. It’s a damned shame all around. But what little I could see of the video did not remind me of the Hitler Youth in the slightest. Strangest analogy I’ve read today. ETA: when I went to a step performance in college, the guys did indeed punch their fists in the air at the end of the performance. This was 1981. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/45 "2008-10-06T22:58:04Z")
Well, of course we have to have legions of jack-booted punk rockers! How the hell else are we gonna round up all the guns? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/46 "2008-10-06T22:59:30Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, of course we have to have legions of jack-booted punk rockers! How the hell else are we gonna round up all the guns? And the Bibles. Don’t forget we need all those bibles as an alternative energy source. Burning them should keep us all warm this winter. ---
**Author:** ![davidw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@davidw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidw)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/47 "2008-10-06T23:02:26Z")
From the Fox News article posted above: > [@](#): > > In the video, eighth- and ninth-graders wearing military camouflage pants and navy t-shirts chant and perform a routine in the style of a step show, a dance popular among African-American fraternities at universities. Which is how I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/48 "2008-10-06T23:25:49Z")
> [@davidw](#): > > Sure it is. I was able to [find this within two minutes of searching](http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=5136214). Or [this, from the movie Stomp the Yard.](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x20xsj_steppin-final_music) Not quite the paramilitary look of the video in question but I see the connection. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/49 "2008-10-07T00:10:43Z")
Yeah, I don’t get the outrage over this. This looks like a disconnect between different kinds of cultures in America. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/50 "2008-10-07T00:31:51Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Not quite the paramilitary look of the video in question but I see the connection. Just looking at the first link from MySpace videos, I see the guys are wearing fatigues, chanting and stomping in unison. But yet you don’t see a “paramilitary look?” ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/51 "2008-10-07T00:52:00Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Just looking at the first link from MySpace videos, I see the guys are wearing fatigues, chanting and stomping in unison. But yet you don’t see a “paramilitary look?” Yes, I also acknowledge the choreography from whence it came. My point still stands that the imagery doesn’t match the message. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/52 "2008-10-07T00:56:08Z")
No, it doesn’t, but it’s not worth getting worked up about either. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/53 "2008-10-07T01:14:23Z")
Not much to add other than I had thought the title was a reference to a Colbert segment from months ago that went (basically) Obama was endorsed by Ted Kennedy, a devout Catholic. The head of the Catholic Church is the Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger). Joseph Ratzinger was a member of the Hitler Youth. Conclusion: Obama loves Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/54 "2008-10-07T02:14:48Z")
These videos are disgusting, deeply offensive to Germans and should be offensive to Americans. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/55 "2008-10-07T02:16:44Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Just looking at the first link from MySpace videos, I see the guys are wearing fatigues, chanting and stomping in unison. But yet you don’t see a “paramilitary look?” Well, I see a “paramilitary look” (although not nearly as much as in the Boy Scouts), but any group that wears uniforms and marches has a “paramilitary look,” (cops, Scouts, Civil Air Patrol, Marching bands, bagpipers, etc.) and my initial thought of a pep rally seems much closer to the reality of step dancing than the hysterical cries of some of the loons who are aghast at the performances who link it to Hitler Youth. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/56 "2008-10-07T02:24:00Z")
> [@bannerrefugee](#): > > These videos are disgusting, deeply offensive to Germans and should be offensive to Americans. Good lord. Can you dial it down a bit? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/57 "2008-10-07T02:25:48Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Yeah, I don’t get the outrage over this. This looks like a disconnect between different kinds of cultures in America. Do you mean you don’t get the outrage over the Obama supporters’ musical numbers, or you don’t get the outrage over the RW linking them to Nazism? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/58 "2008-10-07T02:28:46Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > You guys would have hated the Wide-Awakes. [Had to look that up.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Awakes) Good to read they were nonviolent. ---
**Author:** ![bannerrefugee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bannerrefugee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bannerrefugee)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/59 "2008-10-07T02:40:48Z")
> [@bannerrefugee](#): > > These videos are disgusting, deeply offensive to Germans and should be offensive to Americans. How bout some long knives then. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669/60 "2008-10-07T02:46:30Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > It’s the hokey messiah stuff that gets old. Women fainting at his sermons, raising the teleprompter so he’s always looking far away. The “change you can believe in” mantra. In cult-of-personality terms, Obama has a long way to go before he tops Reagan. That’s what all this “Obamessiah” crap really means: The Pubs are just pissed the Dems have finally found their Reagan – a candidate they can not only vote for but feel enthusiastic about. Plus Obama actually has brains. > [@Magiver](#): > > Now you have a bunch of school-aged kids wearing military fatigues and making hand-in-fist gestures. The image doesn’t fit the “what we’re going to be when we grow up” message. It looks like a Black Panther rally with an inspirational connection to Obama. So what? It’s good for them to feel – to **know** – that they can exert some small measure of real power in society by action and organizing. Let us all hope it’ll work out better for them than it did for the original Panthers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/young-obama-supporters-hitler-youth/466669.md?page=4)