Hey...just how often do you use the term "Blood Libel"?

[Sheepshank]

The term “blood libel” has taken on a broad metaphorical meaning in public discourse. Although its historical origins were in theologically based false accusations against the Jews and the Jewish People,its current usage is far broader. I myself have used it to describe false accusations against the State of Israel by the Goldstone Report. There is nothing improper and certainly nothing anti-Semitic in Sarah Palin using the term to characterize what she reasonably believes are false accusations that her words or images may have caused a mentally disturbed individual to kill and maim. The fact that two of the victims are Jewish is utterly irrelevant to the propriety of using this widely used term.
http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/01/12/exclusive-alan-dershowitz-defends-sarah-palins-use-of-term-blood-libel/

[PBS Poll-435]

1. Please don't link to Breitbart's website.

It has been known to cause high blood pressure, seizures, and spontaneous combustion.

[JenniferJuniper]

2. Um, never.

[slackmaster]

3. I never have

Not even once.

[tanyev]

4. Was not aware of it before today.

[Xipe Totec]

5. Only when discussing blood libel

Which this isn't.

Just because idiots who don't understand the meaning of the word start using it incorrectly, is no reason for the rest of us to do so also.

PS: I also don't use the word "irregardless".

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Breitbart is in the defense mode

but that term was used extensively by me during a COURSE OF STUDY in Antisemitism.


Outside of that... I think today I've used it the most in the last oh 20 years.

[madmax]

7. I myself have never heard of it but, nadinbrezinski one of

our astute members wrote about it and post links.

DU is an education in and of itself. Thank you ALL! I'll usually use Google to find information but, Palin's use of this term is the very first time I'd ever heard it.

I'm stunned! Having heard this dumbshit speak since she was picked by Gramps McCain I find it hard to believe that she knows what the hell she's talking about. Someone wrote this for her.

Four years, Four colleges to get a degree, served 1/2 term as Gov. of Alaska? Smart? I think not. This woman is good at acting - she appears to know what she's saying but, she doesn't. Maybe I'm wrong but, that's what I get from her.

[TomClash]

8. Alan Dershowitz and Andrew Breitbart

Wow. I think I'm going to use alert for the first time. :puke:

[murielm99]

9. I had to explain it to my husband.

He had never heard the term. When I told him about lies that anti-semites used to spread about Jews kidnapping Christian children, killing them, and using their blood in unspeakable rites, he had heard about that. He knew that people were stirred up by those lies so that pogroms took place. He just had never heard the term "blood libel." I guess he has not read as much history or historical fiction as me.

We need to keep condemning these right wing big mouths. And we need to emphasize over and over that the victims are the six dead, their families, and those still recuperating in hospitals. The victims are not right wing big mouths. They have not been shot and killed.

[sarge43]

15. Same here

I only know about it in its historical context, particularly the Middle Ages.

[Toucano]

20. Exactly.

I have never heard it used in a contemporary context to describe false accusations.

[sarge43]

23. The only thing Palin could associate with Middle Ages

is Botox injections. Unless she's a deep dish anti-semite; they still get off on the term.

[housewolf]

10. Never... not sure I ever even heard it until today

Certainly, I didn't know what it referred to until I looked it up today.

[napi21]

11. I never even heard that phrase before tonight.My bet is that neither did

Sarah! I wonder who wrote her speech?

[ismnotwasm]

12. That's a bad link to use

Whatever your point.

[Sheepshank]

28. The link worked fine for me

http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/01/12/exclusive-alan-dershowitz-defends-sarah-palins-use-of-term-blood-libel/

and my point was that the c&p quote in the op (by Alan Dershowitz) seemed to imply that the term Blood Libel is used in everyday conversation within the context of it's more modern form. I myself had not heard the term prior to Palin's speech (that I can recall), and can only assume Palin hadn't used it or heard of it before either.

So here I was assuming that maybe I'd been living in a vacuum and rather that continue assuming, made this post to see how frequently the general population uses this term either in it's historical or modern day context.

So, do you use the term often?

[HuckleB]

13. I don't use the term.

Why would I?

[liberalmuse]

14. Isn't that a Cohen Brother's movie?

No, I haven't heard of it. It sounds like language an extremist would use. 'Blood Sacrifice', 'Blood Oath'...just yuck!

[RoseMead]

16. Most people I know would use 'scapegoat' instead

to describe someone who has been falsely accused of some horrible thing. I have never used blood libel used, ever. I've only seen it in history books.

[baldguy]

17. Palin used the term "blood libel" since it *sounds* bad, but she's clueless what it actually means

And she used it inappropriately, simply because conservatism - and affiliation with the GOP - doesn't follow bloodlines

[seabeyond]

18. never. and i certainly wouldnt be stupid adn insensitive enough to use in this situation. nt

[KharmaTrain]

19. My Grandparents Who Survived The Progroms Sure Knew It...

...as did I at a young age and shook my head when I saw that dog whistle. Palin knows what this means and these words were deliberate...an attempt to play the victim (again) and rally her fundie base with words they sure as hell know as well.

I was first acquainted with this term when my late grandmother described it as one of the "justifications" the Russian Cossacks had for pillaging her town. The Jews in their shtetl town were "Jesus killers" and their isolated community was constantly attacked for that reason. Women were raped, men killed, lives and livlihoods destroyed. It was a major reason they traveled the thousands of miles to immigrate to this country a century ago. It's a term that many thought died with the holocoust...guess it's getting a new life.

Grifterella is showing her true colors...not that we hadn't seen them before. Self centered and totally void of any tact or nuance. If this term had been given to her it shows even less integrity. But we knew that already. Looks like this one shook the corporate media. Good move, Mooselini!

[Forkboy]

21. Only every other day.

Why, just the other day, I said to my friend that I need to go to the store and get some bread, and he asked if I could pick him up some blood libel while I was there. Everyone uses it!

[MattBaggins]

26. And twice on Sundays

[Cleita]

22. Never. n/t

[bhikkhu]

24. I've never heard it used outside of history books

If I were to use it, I know enough to look things up to make sure I was saying what I intended to say, and then I would probably end up not using it. Palin is an idiot who speaks before she thinks (sometimes well before), and who likely just used it because one of her half-witted aides wrote it into her speech, and she thought it made her sound tough and literate. That just makes her the chief idiot in a team of idiots, and randomly offensive to whoever gets in her way.

[Cetacea]

25. When I want to steal a news cycle from Obama

She has smart handlers. I'll give her that much.

[kimi]

27. I've heard about the ridiculous charges against Jews

but never was acquainted with the term. Horrible that she would use it, and especially in this context. What f'n world does this b&*ch live in??

Never mind, I think I know, and will never go there myself. gag