Sister Sarah's bloody grammar

January 12, 2011 7:19 PM

In 1144 CE, the term "blood libel" was first used when an unfounded rumor began in eastern England that Jews had kidnapped a Christian child, tied him to a cross, stabbed his head to simulate Jesus' crown of thorns, killed him, drained his body completely of blood, and mixed the blood into matzos (unleavened bread). "Blood libel"; or a false accusation of ritual murder to get a victim's blood, has been used to justify the slaughter of millions of Jews throughout history.

I tell you that story so I can tell you this one: Sarah Palin, in the response to the murder of six American citizens and the attempted assassination of a sitting Congressperson (who happens to be Jewish) has put out an announcement that the media asking her any questions about her gun/reload/targets/2nd amendment rhetoric is "blood libel".

But it doesn't appear that it's Palin just falling on a grammatical sword here. Blood libel seems to be trending as a new popular talking point for the right. The Wall Street Journal drumbeats blood libel. Washington Examiner editorial page editor Mark Tapscott wrote a blog post headlined "Countering liberals' blood libel of conservatives on Tucson". Human Events published an article headlined "The Giffords Blood Libel Will Fail", as well as becoming a trending phrase on twitter.

Historically, the term "blood libel" refers to the anti-Semitic myth that Jews use the blood of Christian children in some religious rituals - a myth that has long been the source of anti-Jewish violence. Why then, has the right wing decided to cloak themselves with this particular phrase?

posted by dejah420 (19 comments total)

Because the right wing thrives on persecution complexes.
posted by graventy at 7:26 PM on January 12, 2011 [2 favorites]

The tea party right seems intent on building false equivalences. Mild protests from the left are equivalent to rabid creams from the right. One "scientist" from the creationists or climate deniers is equivalent to the whole scientific community. Obama is Hitler. Criticism of Sarah Palin is the same as blood libel.
posted by tyllwin at 7:27 PM on January 12, 2011 [2 favorites]

What's the record for "most times a single topic has been deleted from the front page in one day"?
posted by The Hamms Bear at 7:27 PM on January 12, 2011 [4 favorites]

I do not believe that Palin is intelligent enough to know what that phase means, or articulate enough to put it to use in a sentence. Any statement she's made using that phrase was written by someone else.

At this point, we should not worry so much about Palin, we should worry about the puppet masters that orchestrate her words and actions.
posted by HuronBob at 7:29 PM on January 12, 2011 [4 favorites]

if only you could combine this with wikileaks somehow
posted by p3on at 7:29 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

Probably Michael Jackson dying.
posted by empath at 7:29 PM on January 12, 2011

if only you could combine this with wikileaks somehow

And the kid in the balloon.
posted by empath at 7:30 PM on January 12, 2011

What's the record for "most times a single topic has been deleted from the front page in one day"?

James Brown.
posted by djgh at 7:30 PM on January 12, 2011

When I first heard about it, this seemed like a continuation of a certain flavor of christian persecution complex. On the one hand it's kind of offensive that the rich and powerful are co-opting the language of the downtrodden. On the other hand I completely understand - who among us doesn't want to be on the side of the oppressed, rather than the oppressor?

c.f. Dances with Wolves, Avatar.
posted by contrarian at 7:32 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

The Hamms Bear: "What's the record for "most times a single topic has been deleted from the front page in one day""

Oooh, we'd have to go back to the vibrating broom for an accurate count, I'd guess. I did a search and nothing came up, I guess deleted posts aren't included in the algorithm. That said, my point isn't so much that *one* person said it, it's that many people have suddenly decided to use it, which I find interesting from a semantics standpoint, and I was hoping that there might be some insight into why there seems to be a concerted effort to load their message that way.
posted by dejah420 at 7:35 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

Ending a FPP with a question is horribly bloggy and really bad form for MetaFilter. It attempts to steer the conversation out of the gate, and should not be done.
posted by hippybear at 7:37 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

dejah420, I understand why people want to talk about this, but we are feeding Palin's persecution complex and not really achieving anything except pointing at a stupid thing she said... she says stupid things all the time.

The best thing she could have done was shut up and offer a terse condolences, this is just more shovelfuls as she digs a hole (which is fine imo), but perhaps this is too much Sarahfilter.
posted by edgeways at 7:38 PM on January 12, 2011

What's the record for "most times a single topic has been deleted from the front page in one day"?

James Brown.

Again.. James Brown
posted by edgeways at 7:38 PM on January 12, 2011

what? matsos aren't disgusting enough you got to this to them already?
posted by kitchenrat at 7:39 PM on January 12, 2011

Good post, good question, good links.
posted by orthogonality at 7:41 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well played. She gets to energize her "base" with a Biblical connotation of persecution (the details of which are insignificant, it sounds cool) *and* she makes it into the left-leaning news outlets trotting out the Judaic studies professors to wag fingers at her. Somebody over there needs a raise.

Hey, but at least we're not going on a crusade against terrorism, right?
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:43 PM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

She is Chauncey Gardiner for another time.
posted by vapidave at 7:43 PM on January 12, 2011

Is it ok if I say 'ooooh vey' ? No serously, given that Congresswoman Giffords is a Jew it is particularly a heinous mis-use of the phrase.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 7:44 PM on January 12, 2011

Because of all this I had the joy (?) of giving my colleagues a mini- lecture in middle ages Christian/Jewish relations and what the heck the blood libel is. I tend to be the "Jew on call" in all such scenarios.
Anyway, my favorite part was explaining about how there are rituals woven so tightly into the fabric of Jewish life related to the blood libel that many Jews today don't even realize that's where they come from. Off the top of my head-opening the door for Elijah at the Passover seder is generally viewed as having been added in the 1500s to show there was no funny business going on inside. Some families even remove the tablecloth and reset the table before opening the door-to ensure they can show no Christian babies are hidden underneath (although I always figured they would have already been made into matzah, but details shmetails). So, um, thanks Sarah, for another day of atomicstone as Jew of Record. yeah.
posted by atomicstone at 7:45 PM on January 12, 2011 [3 favorites]