From claims that Jews kill children to make matzo to accusations that Haitian immigrants are devouring pets, blood libel is a nightmare that never ends

One of the oldest and most widespread versions of [incendiary storytelling] is about Jews, especially how they kill Christian children and use their blood for religious rituals, hence the name for this vicious myth: “blood libel.”…Stories eerily similar to blood libels turn up over and over, and not just against Jews, in cultures worldwide…

High-ranking members of society are often responsible for making blood libels go viral. They are the superspreaders.

In short, the blood libel story is the worst thing to tell to a group of imaginative animals living in unusually large cooperative groups…the blood libel is more potent than all the rational arguments we might throw against it.

[For example] Donald Trump’s accusation that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating cats and dogs, which is a spin-off the blood libel meme…[S]ome outsiders – in this case, Haitian immigrants – are accused of committing gory, taboo-breaking violence against [pets].

[F]act-checks and serious, official dismissals are [more] important [than ever] – especially if they influence official acts, such as police behavior – but ridiculing accusations is a particularly strong strategy that each of us, individually, can utilize.

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