Wikipedia 'Blood Libel' Page Edited Yesterday

[one_voice]

Here’s an interesting sidenote to Sarah Palin’s invocation of “blood libel” to describe the criticism of her extreme and violent rhetoric, demonstrating how quickly these memes bubble up from the crazy base directly into right wing media and the speeches of right wing politicians.

Yesterday, there was a very curious edit to the Wikipedia page for “blood libel.” Here’s a link to the January 11 revision page for Blood libel, showing what was added. The timestamp shows that the edit took place at 13:58, 11 January 2011, and has since been reverted: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blood_libel&oldid=407271410

Blood libel (also blood accusation) refers to a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, almost always Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays. Historically, these claims have–alongside those of well poisoning and host desecration–been a major theme in European persecution of Jews. Contemporary libertarian observers have begun to use the term to refer to attempts by the American Left to accuse American conservatives of contributory responsibility for various incidents of violence.

The footnote for this edit links to Ann Althouse’s site; her post never uses the term “blood libel,” but there are two comments that do. And they’re both completely crazed.

They’re not turning it into a passion of the Palin. They are rebutting blood libels. And note, they are not saying that in fact it was liberal ideology that caused this shooting. What they are saying is that libs are full of shit. Big difference.

<…>

*snip*

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/37891_Wikipedia_Blood_Libel_Page_Edited_Yesterday


***I know it's littlegreenfootballs, but since the Palin pick for VP he's been ripping that side a new ass...worth taking a look.***

[spanone]

1. it's historical known definition goes way beyond any wikipedia edit

[Posteritatis]

2. LGF's actually not that bad and hasn't been for awhile

The site owner had something of a Road to Damascus moment a couple years ago about how bad the right's gotten, and has (for the most part) been repudiating - nay, refudiating - them ever since.

[OregonBlue]

3. Very interesting that they tried to change the definition YESTERDAY.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Well they started using it

on Saturday on a tweet, and Monday in an editorial... somebody must have checked the wiki... and not liked what they found.

[jwirr]

10. It should be reedited to include the things we have talked about

here on DU today. Don't delete it enhance it regarding Identity Christians. Then the full truth would be there.

[renate]

4. wow

Could it really be true (since most of us don't spend a lot of time on FR etc) that this is a term the right have actually begun to use (since before this was edited yesterday, that is)? Or is Sarah just trying to start another catchphrase, since "mama grizzlies" went so well?

Pathetic, either way.

By the way, as of this moment, there are 2268 comments on the NYT article about this:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/palin-calls-criticism-blood-libel/
I'm pretty sure I've never seen that many before.

[Lint Head]

5. This can be reported to the Wikipedia administrator as a bogus politically

motivated change and it will be taken down. They do police their sight. They do not like deception

[RagAss]

7. Wikipedia is to History what Cheese is to the Moon.

[Sanity Claws]

8. Doesn't this show that Palin is a puppet?

We all know that W got where he did because folks in the background pulled strings to get him the Presidency and once there, they pulled his strings to dance their song.

The same with Ronald Reagan.

Palin has been getting a ludicrous amount of media coverage for a half-term governor of the second smallest (in population) state in the nation. I've thought some folks behind the scenes are manipulating it so she continues to be front and center. This confirms it.
These same folks are writing her scripts. They wrote what she said today and they made the Wikipedia entry. She didn't pick it up from the RW blogosphere; the same group wrote her speech, the wiki entry, and all of the other references to blood libel.

[d_r]

9. currently

that line has been taken out.

And this page has been added:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel_(U.S._political_term)

Blood libel (U.S. political term)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia's deletion policy.
Please share your thoughts on the matter at this article's entry on the Articles for deletion page.
Feel free to edit the article, but the article must not be blanked, and this notice must not be removed, until the discussion is closed. For more information, particularly on merging or moving the article during the discussion, read the Guide to deletion.
For the historical Antisemetic term, see Blood libel.
Blood libel has never been a United States political term. It was used by former Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin in January 2011, in the aftermath of the 2011 Tucson shootings.<1> Another conservative commentator, Jonah Goldberg, expressed his opinion in his blog that he was "not sure" Sarah Palin or Glenn Reynolds "intended to redefine the phrase, or that they should have".<2> The phrase is highly offensive to Jewish people because, used correctly, blood libel refers to the utterly false accusation that Jews use the blood of murdered Christian children for Passover matzohs.
Contents
1 Background
2 Use by Sarah Palin
2.1 Reactions
3 References
4 External links
Background

The term was used in relation to the debate regarding the shooting tragedy of January 2011 by law professor and blogger Glenn Reynolds.<1> Writing in an op-ed in the January 10, 2011 Wall Street Journal entitled, "The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel", Reynolds decried the reaction of liberal politicians and talking heads to the Tucson shootings, which he claimed blamed talk radio and Republican politicians for the Arizona shootings. He termed this finger pointing "blood libel" and said it meant asserting a connection between the killings and "rhetoric" of Sarah Palin, or more generally, "seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points" <3> Following Palin's use of the term on January 12, Reynolds said, "I don't necessarily know that Palin picked up the phrase from me" and he indicated that the term meant "false associations with murder".<4>
Use by Sarah Palin

On January 12, 2011, former Alaska governor, and national political figure, Sarah Palin broadened the term, to include the inciting of hatred and violence:
"... within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible." --Sarah Palin
Reactions
The pro-Israel group J Street stated that Jews were offended by the use of the term. <1>
Conservative writer Jonah Goldberg of the National Review opined that the use of the term by Professor Reynolds and Palin was not "ideal" but that he agreed with the larger point. <5>
The Washington Post noted that Palin's use of blood libel had sparked controversy partly because Palin is not Jewish, and the target of the shooting, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) is Jewish.<1>
Republican Ari Fleischer did not discuss the term, and approved of much of Palin's message. However, he said she could have chosen a better way to refute the charges against her. <6>
Alan Dershowitz said, "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."<7>
References

^ a b c d "Palin's use of 'blood libel' and Reagan comment in statement on Tucson shooting - Fact Checker". Voices.washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named the_corner; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text
^ Reynolds, Glenn (2011-01-10). "Glenn Reynolds: The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel - WSJ.com". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
^ Smith, Ben. "The origins of 'blood libel' - Ben Smith". Politico.Com. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
^ Jonah Goldberg (2011-01-12). "“Blood Libel”". The Corner - National Review Online (NationalReview.com). Retrieved 2011-01-12.
^ Jordan Fabian. "Jewish Republicans muted on Palin's 'blood libel' comment". The Hill.
^ http://biggovernment.com/publius/2011/01/12/exclusive-alan-dershowitz-defends-sarah-palins-use-of-term-blood-libel/