[WikiEN-l] murder versus kill

Thu Jul 29 15:38:27 UTC 2004

No, its not about emotional undertone. "Murder" means
"wrongful immoral killing"; as in the Commandment
"Thou shall do no murder" usually misstated as "thou
shalt not kill"  This is the meaning of the word. The
"crime" definition as described by recent and local
government law is inferior and subordinate to its true
general meaning. The legal definition of the crime
"murder" does not replace what the word itself means
in society.

So why not just use the word murder in its general
sense? I agree its tempting to call all such killings
"murders" but nobody asks that we do so even-handedly
accross all topics for all non-accidental killing
(suicide, abortion, excecution, missile strikes,
collateral damage,), except for a very small number of
very strange people. Im tempted myself, but the use of
the term carries a disruptive POV element (local pov
vs other) that without other reason justifies its
disinclusion.

> Killing the enemy in time of war is an effective
> means of preventing your comrades and yourself from
being killed.  This distinction is important.

But this can also be a soldiers rationalization, where
"enemy" can mean almost anyone (notice how some creeps
use the phrase "enemies, foreign 'and domestic?'"
Domestic enemies?  So, now we must "be vigilant" and
keep watch out for "domestic enemies," eh? (Rebel
scum?)  To pull apart your little statement, if an
"enemy" is, say, a whole race of people, is their mass
killing murder? To say that its "not technically a
crime called murder"; that would be simple avoidance
and denial of the issue. People in denail about
something cant or wont really participate in the
discussion.

S

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