Does any political office count?
What about school board or a principal?
What about a chess champion?
What if you’re the prime witness to a huge crime?
Military leaders? Chief of police?
Youtubers, podcasters?
CEO? Small bussiness owner? Manager of a store?
Does popularity matter, or is it only importance?
And lets say the leader of a country got killed, but its by their relative for, say, getting bulled as a kid, and the movive has nothing to do with their position of power? Does that count as an “assassination”?
They didn’t call it “assassination” when Jo Cox was killed by Brexiteers, so I guess it depends on what the media moguls want.
How come 3 kids got shot in Colorado on the same day but people care about some guy bashing the LGBT community?
We’re used to kids getting shot.
That’s a disturbing thing to read.
I’m more curious about the Wikipedia editor’s debating whether or not to change it from “shooting of [name]” to “assassination of [name]”, as in the Lexicology aspect, not the Criminology aspect.
That’s an easy one: he was much more famous.
Murder is killing with malice. Assassination is killing for political capital. There can be crossover but it isn’t necessary.
Take a head of state — not strictly a current one, not wishing here. Just as an example. He’s giving a speech, it’s an assassination. You caught him in bed with your wife and shot them both — that’s murder.
I think it is fair to label something as an assassination if the death is actually only a means to an end and not the end itself. For example a prince assassinates his father to become king. The true goal is becoming king, but in order to do that the prince needs to kill the king, but the killing itself is not the end goal.
So most politically motivated murders are assassinations, because the death itself is a means to other ends.
You have selected REGICIDE. If you know the name of the king or queen being murdered, press ONE.
Booooop
if the death is actually only a means to an end and not the end itself
I would restrict the intended end to institutional change—it’s not an assassination if you kill someone for their parking space, but it is if you kill them for their school board vote.
Edit: I guess I’d also have to add killing someone purely for their notoriety.
Huh? That has nothing to do with the definition of an assassination??? Where are you getting that from? Sometimes the goal really is just to kill the king…
The difference between homicide and assassination is who is being killed. For it to be an “assassination,” it just needs to be a planned attack on an important figure. You could definitely call yesterday’s killing an assassination if that’s what you’re getting at… Doesn’t need to be a ‘good’ person, just an important/prominent person.
Not sure why the above comment is getting so many upvotes considering it’s literally just wrong. Has nothing to do with “ends/means” or whatever the fuck.
When the intention is just to kill the person then it’s just murder. Both murder and assassinations are homicides. When the attack isn’t planned, at least legally, it is considered manslaughter. So the only possible definition left is that an assassination is a killing that serves an end instead of being the end itself. Thats were I got it from, working logically through the definitions.
But just in case: https://www.britannica.com/topic/assassination
We are pretty much arguing the same position, my definition was just a little broader because I think limiting it to “prominent persons” is a little hazy. Was the CEO that Luigi supposedly killed a prominent person? I can’t even remember their name and I certainly don’t know their face so I wouldn’t consider them prominent. I’d argue this is the case for most people in regards to that case. Yet the fact of the matter is that that situation was also an assassination.
government leaders and other prominent persons for political purposes
I guess it depends on who you call prominent but yes, the billionaire? CEO of one of the biggest healthcare companies in the US was in a prominent (important) position regardless whether anyone knew who he was. And yes there is evidence of a political purpose.
I have to say that going into this my reaction was no, this is not an assassination. However looking at the linked definition and thinking it through changed my opinion
So the only possible definition left is that an assassination is a killing that serves an end instead of being the end itself.
So every murder of a parent or spouse to get inheritance or insurance money is an assassination? That seems a bit too broad.
Also I can think if like a dozen possible other definitions that have not been ruled out.
What did a chess champion do to you?
THERE WERE NO ANAL BEADS, TOTAL SLANDER. ALSO I DID NOT KILL MAGNUS CARLSEN!
/j
Carlsen isn’t even world champ anymore.
Google en passant
Holy hell
-unplugs Deep Blue-
I think it depends more on the intention of the murder. If the killer specifically targets a person, that’s assassination. Otherwise, it’s homicide? Maybe when it’s a specific group of people it can be called genocide instead
If the killer specifically targets the person for a personal motive, it’s not assassination, it’s murder.
Maybe when it’s a specific group of people it can be called genocide instead
Unless you’re every western government, then it’s just “a conflict”.
Technically, it’s when an assassin does it.
Do you go to college to become an assassin? How does one become an assassin without first assassinating someone? This is a real “chicken or the egg” type of situation…
The term “assassin” likely has roots in hashshāshīn (“hashish smokers or users”), a mispronunciation of the original Asāsiyyūn, but not a mispronunciation of Assasiyeen (pronounced “Asāsiyyeen”, the plural of “Asasi”). Originally referring to the methods of political control exercised by the Assasiyuun, one can see how it became “assassin” in several languages to describe similar activities anywhere.
Apparently by smoking.
I suspect that the answer depends entirely on who reports on it first. By the time the rest of the world has had time to catch up, the tone is already set.
For a related concept, consider the use of the phrase “domestic terrorism”.
Homicide changes to murder with the criminal’s intent. Murder moves to assasination when the intent is to dictate one’s opinion over others using lethal violence.
The cheapest way is this:
Just tell your mom, when the press comes asking, the very first thing she says should be: “It was an assassination!”
For me, it’s on the professional execution of the job. Murder sounds more unhinged to me, more passionate, usually not as premeditated or carried over by a professional. Homicide is the technical term for both.
