What Is the Meaning of This ‘Blood Libel’?  The meaning of “blood libel” is what Conservative Right-Wing Republican EXTREMISTS have done from the time of Nixon through Goldwater, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II to accuse, condemn, denounce, and put the Left and Liberals in the “cross hairs.”

she pronounces pundit “pundent”

“Blood Libel” is a very old term.  It may have multiple uses but its association is singular.

When someone says “Before Pearl Harbor” we all know that is short-hand for “Before Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec 7, 1941”, not before Pearl Harbor was constructed, nor before Joe Schmoe visited on a cruise.

So “Blood Libel” explicitly refers to the practice used by the Church, both Catholic and Russian Orthodox, of telling the common people that Jews used the blood of Christian (or Christian child, or virgin) to make the Passover matzohs.  Since ANY reading of the Bible shows that matzoh must be made with flour and water and not a hint of leavening, and the Kosher laws STRICTLY forbid the consuming of any beast that does chew a cud and have a cloven hoof, and in ALL cases forbids the eating of blood, the “Libel” is clear:

It was to inflame the hoi-poloi to avoid and, if necessary (Like when the bishop or baron owed the Jews a lot of money) to then kill the local Jews, all in the name of protecting some children that supposedly were taken.

Curiously, Anne Rice’s latest two novels deal with two such incidents, specifically one in England where the supposedly abducted child was made a saint.

The “Blood Libel” was still common in Tsarist Russia through to the end of, well, the Tsars.

Today, the “Blood Libel” is back in a new, toxic form in the middle east, easily substituting the mythical innocent Christian child for a new, mythical innocent Muslim child to be murdered.

“Holocaust” is used in many ways, and only after WWII did the term “THE Holocaust” arise. From WikiPedia, we see that, while used for massacres of Jews, “Holocaust” without “The” in front of it, originally refers to sacrificing and burning an animal, but can refer to any massacre:
“The term holocaust comes from the Greek word holókauston, an animal sacrifice offered to a god in which the whole (holos) animal is completely burnt (kaustos).[10] Its Latin form (holocaustum) was first used with specific reference to a massacre of Jews by the chroniclers Roger of Howden[11] and Richard of Devizes in England in the 1190s. For hundreds of years, the word “holocaust” was used in English to denote massive sacrifices and great slaughters or massacres.”

Queenie:

“Who is her manager? Who are her handlers? Who writes the script? Who designs the stage settings?This is all theater playing to a packed house with really cheap seats. Beer and spittoons optional.”

You seem to be missing the point: they know EXACTLY what they’re doing, because they know that this is what SELLS to the “average” Joe and Jane.

Blackspeare:

“The Jews may own the word, ‘Holocaust,’ but do they now have to have to own the words, ‘Blood Libel?’”

I am hoping you are joking.  If not, you are clearly ignorant of history.  If anything, Jews “own” the phrase “blood libel” even MORE than the word “Holocaust.”  After all, though it is true that, when initial capped, the word “Holocaust” has a specific connotation.  However, we use the word “holocaust” to describe more than one incident in history.  However, “blood libel” is a VERY specific phrase, use VERY specifically with respect to Jews - and no one else.

All that said, whether the speech was written by her or for her, there is a good possibility that the phrase was lifted from a WSJ article published the day prior.

Peace.

Peter Knopfler, the way you frame the issue of violence seems particularly useful: Karma is global, one has only to compare the timelines of the world’s great civilizations to see this.

More to the point though, Palin’s glib (facile) use of a term with deep, historic and emotional signficance is indicative of her culture of public display, like a pornographic artists who want to display their physical attributes over and above those of the spirit.

Most of us have grown out of, or will soon grow out of that adolescent phase of testing a word or word or phrase they do not understand in public. This is not leadership, this is learning behavior. Sarah is not competing to be a learner, but to lead.

Before Sarah Palin used the expression, I had never heard it. A thoughtful and educated “public” person might want to know the origin of such a phrase before using it. Perhaps they too would have found that the phrase is unacceptably linked to an unfortunate narrative of relations in civil society. It use would then have been conscious and intentional.

However one judges the speaker, the key to my way of thinking is “Civil Society”. Unfortunately, this kind of rhetoric will continue to “play in Peoria”, so long as Peoria values “razzle dazzle” over “Civil Society”.

[ Friends in Peoria will excuse my use of a metaphore about which you can learn more here: Will it Play in Peoria?.

I have no doubt that Peoria, Illinois, has civil society organizations and that these promote the public good. But, are these organizations free of undue political and commercial interest? How do the citizens of Peoria define “Civil Society” and “the public good”? ]

We’ve had enough facile, off-the-cuff rhetoric that pass for culture. Were not George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan enough, already?

Hebrew scholars distinguish between “israelis” of the original texts, and the current religious classification of “Jew.” 

There is no book of “jewish phrases” or “israeli phrases” that may be used only by the folk who identify themselves with these religious “denominations”. Nor does either the “israeli” or the “Jew” mindset rule the language used outside of these groups.

The scapegoating of the use of the subject phrase reflects the “israeli scapegoating”, which has become a characteristic of CIA dupes.  It contributes to “crossfire” and hostility among various groups. Which interactive hostility is being used to disintegrate the U.S. and western-world citizenry.  It contributes to the U.S. disintegration and overthrow.

blood libel is a recondite reference for a woman of
such limited intelligence. can’t image the motives of
her advisers who put her up to this stuff.

Blood libel?  More like blood lust.

it is an outrage that anyone might imply an association
between gun violence and people who speak the language
of gun violence. these are the same+ crack pots who
accuse sarah palin of being a soulless, money grubbing
harpy who would seize upon the occasion of a tragedy to
grandstand just because she comports herself in the
fashion of a soulless, money grubbing harpy who would
seize upon the occasion of this tragedy to grandstand.
how dare you?

The Jews may own the word, “Holocaust”, but do they now have to have to own the words, “Blood Libel?”

Hey what is all the fuss, Sahara Palin, no pain
palin, What about Minister Huckbee calling for MURDER
of Julian Assange just a few weeks ago, and also
Senator Pete King, calling out for Murder, yes Murder
in the Air for weeks on end, Laws of attraction do
not separate US, murder is Murder, anyone counts, the
USA officials TSA, body scanning naked imagine is it
not violence and those who object, Enhanced PaT downs
is this not violence sex body parts foddled squeezed
rubbed and looked upon, THAT IS VIOLENCE, in the air
every where, Yes pay back is harsh, all those drone
killings to pay for, THE american nightmare, haunting
, killing made easy. Payless Palin is not the only
one shooting from a helicopter, What goes around
comes around KARMA IS GLOBAL

Who is her manager? Who are her handlers? Who writes the script? Who designs the stage settings?

This is all theater playing to a packed house with really cheap seats. Beer and spittoons optional.

To her dim witted fans she is a star. It does not matter what she says or does, they idolize her. She is Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Ronald Reagan, Elvis Presley, etc. all rolled up in a no nonsense, take no prisoners persona, dim witted though she may be, she sees herself as a legend in her own time.

All that is missing from this staged event is the gun cabinet, stage left,the moose and wolf head trophies over the mantle, and a bible.(Fire the prop master) The partially furled American flag stage right confirms to all that she is in charge. A rock solid patriot. Presidential even.

Disney could do no better.

We can all be thankful that this woman doesn’t have sense enough to keep her mouth shut. She’d probably be far more dangerous if she did.

In typical Right Wing form she knows as well to play the righteous victim as she is able to viciously attack her opponent with ballistic ‘metaphors’. The knee jerk response when the brutal attacks from the Right are critized for being brutal attacks, then the criticism is itself criticized as a brutal extreme attack. This hypocritical self-serving reflexive sanctimony is really the most enfuriating aspect of Right wing political strategy. Luckily it’s their full arsenal.
Please note how there is little empathy expressed for the family and survivors.

OK. The wagons were circled, and now, after 4 days, Team Teabaggers has their talking points coordinated and in place.  Watch how first it was Limbaugh, then another, then Sharon Angle now Palin (the “star”)—all moving together like a flying wedge.  All carefully planned and coordinated for their counter-attack.

Is there no limit to their gall and chutzpah? (That’s a rhetorical question)

****************

It is team palin trying to trumpet the obvious miscreant’s bold
dash to the presidency 2012. Minimize the damage while
passing the buck of palin ‘exceptionalism’. You know it’s the
presidency she so desperately wants because she is bucking the
whole ‘liability’ of what her caustic rhetoric corrodes and
damages.

I listened to Palin’s carefully prepared, well-rehearsed video response.

This is a molehill being made into a mountain. It’s doubtful Palin prepared that statement herself, and more doubtful she’d be aware of the connotations of her statement regarding “blood libel”.

The bottom line is that Sarah Palin is just another stupid loudmouth bitch who doesn’t know when to shut up, and ( worse ) is incapable of recognizing when she is wrong.

Like Lucy in “Peanuts”, Palin follows the tenet of “If you can’t be right, be wrong as loud as you can.”

So far it seems to be working for her.

“The blood myths persisted however, and were at times used to incite pogroms, or anti-Jewish riots.” —BBC News Jan. 12, 2011

Conservative Right-Wing Republican EXTREMISTS such as Sarah Palin complaining about “blood libel” when “blood libel” is what was used by Conservative Right-Wing Republican EXTREMISTS to accuse, condemn, denounce, and put “liberals” in the cross hairs from the time of Nixon through Goldwater, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II, does not seem to me to be anything more than an EXTREMIST complaining that everyone else should do as I say, not as I do.

“The blood myths persisted however, and were at times used to incite pogroms, or anti-Jewish riots.” —BBC News Jan. 12, 2011

Conservative Right-Wing Republican EXTREMISTS such as Sarah Palin complaining about “blood libel” when “blood libel” is what was used by Conservative Right-Wing Republican EXTREMISTS to accuse, condemn, denounce, and put “liberals” in the cross hairs from the time of Nixon through Goldwater, Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II, does not seem to me to be anything more than and EXTREMIST complaining that everyone elsew should do as I say, not as I do.

You know Palin reminds me of my annoying neighbor who walks her stupid dog so it shits on my front lawn, then she gets tangled up in the leash and then steps in it,  though not being a rocket scientist, I can still follow her boot prints to her house! Though, not quite like a smoking gun!

Those damn gun metaphors are like the Disney Land ride “its a small small world”, I cannot get them out of me head!

Lock and load Bunkey!