It’s our duty to watch our words and actions

We now understand that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was the victim of a deranged, apolitical assailant. While speculation that Jared Loughner was motivated by contentious political rhetoric was, indeed, premature, we still owe ourselves the duty of reflecting on the nature of our words and actions.

I am appalled by Sarah Palin claiming to be the victim of “blood libel.” That phrase has a specific meaning and context: It refers to anti-Semitic stories claiming that Jews conducted ritual blood sacrifice of Christian children. Those stories were offered as justification for persecutions and pogroms directed at Jews.

Palin is either ignorant of anti-Semitism's history or she deliberately decided to trivialize that awful history. If she is ignorant of blood libel, she needs to educate herself. If she knows what that phrase means and invoked it in order to play victim, then she made a monumentally bad decision that indicates defective judgment and a suspect character.

Palin should apologize and retire from public life.

Jeff Klinzman

Coralville