Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
Well, actually if you check out the dictionary ("assasinate"), you'll find:
1. to kill suddenly or secretively, esp. a politically prominent person; murder premeditatedly and treacherously.
2. to destroy or harm treacherously and viciously: to assassinate a person's character.
(Emphasis original to dictionary.com. My 1966 Random House unabridged has the same definitions.)
Because they're not necessarily the same thing. Character assassination is form of defamation with the particular purpose of ending someone's political or business career or a similar effect. As the Wiki article that Drolefille linked says: Such acts are typically very difficult to reverse or rectify, therefore the process is correctly likened to a literal assassination of a human life. The damage sustained can be life-long and more, or for historical personages, last for many centuries after their death.
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I tip my proverbial cap to you then Mysticcat though Earp completely misused the expression. I had never heard the phrase before yesterday. I suppose you could refer to Mary Magdelene as a famous victim of character assassination.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shinerbock
I meant to say civilians, but yeah.
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Shinerbock, I believe the outrage here is that these soldiers were part of an invasion into another country where they then preyed on the civilians of that country. It's like walking into someone else's house, taking off your shoes and shooting their dog.
I am no less outraged by the kidnappings and murders of Americans, Brits, etc. Jill Carroll, for instance, was a UMASS alum and someone we never forgot during her entire ordeal.
The outrage is similar to the emotions on 9/11. Someone came into our country and killed our people.
When you're in the military, you do your damn job and nothing but your job. This murder was pre-meditated and appalling.
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