In it she accuses the "left" of a "blood libel" against her, this is an interesting use of term and worthy of some analysis. Firstly, it seems somewhat self serving for her to position herself as a "victim" in all this, but she's a politician so I suppose we shouldn't expect any humility, however, the term "blood libel" refers to the false accusations made in medieval times against Jews along the lines that they stole Christian children and consumed their blood in satanic rituals. The primary reason for these accusations is generally accepted now to be that they facilitated and rationalised the persecution of Jews by Christians, additionally, it seems hard not to draw at least tentative historical linkages between the mythical status of Jews as killers of Christ, centuries of European persecution and blood libel and the subsequent attitudes of fascists like the Nazi's. Anyway, knowing this history and knowing that the actual victim of the shooting, i.e. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is indeed a Jew, I can't help feeling that either this is monumental stupidity on the part of the speech writer or a more sinister hand is at work.
If we all had to suggest something this horrible mess needed right now, a healthy dose of medieval religious BS shouldn't be high on anyone's list! But was it deliberate and intended to incite or was it just stupidity? Some wit put out this tweet yesterday which became popular, it illustrates the point,
"pattonoswalt: Took video down. Sorry for offending Jews. My camp is concentrating on better one. Final solution soon. #palin"
No doubt there will be more on this in the coming days, and I thought Obama's speech yesterday was very good indeed; for me the intellectual contrast between him and Palin is stark.
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