The foolishness of the 'blood libel' charge

[Joanne98]

Most of Palin's message is banal and unobjectionable, although it's odd to hear Palin call for "common ground" having previously suggested that criticism of her threatens her First Amendment rights. Conservative blogger Glenn Reynolds employed the term earlier this week. Its use couldn't be less appropriate, particularly since she goes on to reverse the accusation and imply her critics might bear responsibility for inciting violence.

Blood libel is a term that usually refers to an ancient falsehood that Jews use the blood of Christian children in religious rituals. For hundreds of years, particularly during the Middle Ages, it was used to justify the slaughter of Jews in the street and their expulsion from entire countries. "Blood libel" is not wrongfully assigning guilt to an individual for murder, but rather assigning guilt collectively to an entire group of people and then using it to justify violence against them.

This is a new low for Palin, but outsize comparisons of partisan political conflict to instances of terrible historical oppression is a fairly frequent rhetorical device among conservative media figures. Early in the Obama administration, Rush Limbaugh said D.C. was like "the Old South" for Republicans, who were an "oppressed minority." Following the news that the Department of Justice was reviewing the outcome of the case of a white cop who had shot an unarmed black man in San Francisco, Glenn Beck told his audience that, "We have turned this into the 1950s overnight, except the races are reversed."

Given that people like Beck and Limbaugh have spent the last two years trying to convince their audiences that being white and conservative in America today is comparable to being black under Jim Crow, Palin's use of "blood libel" isn't entirely surprising.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2011/01/the_foolishness_of_the_blood_l.html

[dkf]

1. Blood libel is pure histrionics on her part. The drama queen diva lives on

[fascisthunter]

2. blood, reload, locked and loaded, terrorists

she is a misanthrope... a true sociopath. All of her language is loaded and extreme... her charges are twisted lies that further poison any political debate. I blame the media for her and the right wing's free pass to spread hatred of liberal, moderates and anyone to their left.

[cilla4progress]

10. She IS a sociopath...and look how far she's getting?

I HATE to make the hackneyed comparison to Hitler, so all I WILL say is: it makes it so much easier to see how Hitler did it, does it not? Let's see who WE are - the good Germans of the 1930s, or something far, far better.

[DCKit]

3. As I said in an earlier post, the media's all over this - and not in any way favorable to Palin. nt

[monmouth]

4. Her "writer" came up with that one. Do you honestly think she even

knows what it means? I hope the next time she has a sit down interview with anyone, they ask her to explain what it means.

[Raschel]

5. How dare she. Is she equating her victimhood with the Jewish Rep Giffords?

[livetohike]

6. Of course she is. It's all about her, always has been and always

will be. I hope these 8 minutes are the last we will hear from her.

[Raschel]

7. Amen. This should be the end of media whoring for Pontius Palin.

[kestrel91316]

8. Not quite. She is equating her "victimhood" with the Holocaust.

Drama doesn't get any more exaggerated than this. She takes the cake.

[Raschel]

9. People believed the blood libel lie. They also believe the death panel lie.

Glad she brought it up.