Massacre: Difference between revisions
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Boneyard90 (talk | contribs) Modified wording of lead. Toned down dramatic language and removed "indiscriminate". Many massacres are highly methodical. |
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[[File:Srebrenica exhumed.jpg|thumb|right|An exhumed victim of the [[Srebrenica massacre]], 1995. Blindfolded and with hands tied behind his back]] |
[[File:Srebrenica exhumed.jpg|thumb|right|An exhumed victim of the [[Srebrenica massacre]], 1995. Blindfolded and with hands tied behind his back]] |
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A '''massacre''' is the general and unnecessary slaughter of members of one group by one or more members of another more powerful group. A massacre may be indiscriminate or highly methodical in application. The massacred group may be humans or animals. A massacre is a single event, though it may occur during the course of an extended campaign or war. A massacre is seperate from a battle (an event in which opposing sides fight), but may follow in its immediate aftermath, when one side has surrendered or lost the ability to fight, yet the victors persist in killing in their opponents. |
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A '''massacre''' is a wholesale, indiscriminate killing of persons, and also, in a transferred sense, of animals.<ref>{{Wikisource1911Enc Citation|wstitle=Massacre}}</ref> |
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The term ''massacre'' is also used for certain events in history,<ref name=OED_N>[[Oxford English Dictionary]] Massacre, n.</ref> which may or may not be agreed on by all reasonable definitions, but may serve propaganda purposes. The first recorded use in English of the word ''massacre'' in the name of an event is "[[Christopher Marlowe|Marlowe]] (c1600), The massacre at Paris"<ref name="OED_N"/> (a reference to the [[St. Bartholomew's Day massacre]]). ''Massacre'' can also be used as a verb, as "To kill (people or, less commonly, animals) in numbers, esp. brutally and indiscriminately",<ref name="OED_V"/> the first usage of which was "1588 J. PENRY Viewe Publ. Wants Wales 65 Men which make no conscience for gaine sake, to breake the law of the æternall, and massaker soules...are dangerous subjects".<ref name=OED_V>[[Oxford English Dictionary]] Massacre, v.</ref> It is also used figuratively and idiomatically for events that do not involve any deaths, such as the [[Saturday Night Massacre]], which refers to the firing and resignations of political appointees during the [[Watergate scandal]]. |
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Massacres can be difficult to investigate because they are often done secretly and the victims may all have been killed, so that only the perpetrators survive and are able to bear witness.<ref>{{citation |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mwf-pHi_2I0C&pg=PA376 |chapter=Investigating a massacre |pages=376–378 |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2009 |title=Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide |author=Jacques Semelin |isbn=9780231142830}}</ref> |
Massacres can be difficult to investigate because they are often done secretly and the victims may all have been killed, so that only the perpetrators survive and are able to bear witness.<ref>{{citation |url=http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mwf-pHi_2I0C&pg=PA376 |chapter=Investigating a massacre |pages=376–378 |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2009 |title=Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide |author=Jacques Semelin |isbn=9780231142830}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 17:27, 19 September 2011
A massacre is the general and unnecessary slaughter of members of one group by one or more members of another more powerful group. A massacre may be indiscriminate or highly methodical in application. The massacred group may be humans or animals. A massacre is a single event, though it may occur during the course of an extended campaign or war. A massacre is seperate from a battle (an event in which opposing sides fight), but may follow in its immediate aftermath, when one side has surrendered or lost the ability to fight, yet the victors persist in killing in their opponents.
The term massacre is also used for certain events in history,[1] which may or may not be agreed on by all reasonable definitions, but may serve propaganda purposes. The first recorded use in English of the word massacre in the name of an event is "Marlowe (c1600), The massacre at Paris"[1] (a reference to the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre). Massacre can also be used as a verb, as "To kill (people or, less commonly, animals) in numbers, esp. brutally and indiscriminately",[2] the first usage of which was "1588 J. PENRY Viewe Publ. Wants Wales 65 Men which make no conscience for gaine sake, to breake the law of the æternall, and massaker soules...are dangerous subjects".[2] It is also used figuratively and idiomatically for events that do not involve any deaths, such as the Saturday Night Massacre, which refers to the firing and resignations of political appointees during the Watergate scandal.
Massacres can be difficult to investigate because they are often done secretly and the victims may all have been killed, so that only the perpetrators survive and are able to bear witness.[3] There are those who have observed that when an urban massacre is initiated by government authorities, such as what happened in Soweto in the 1980s, leaders of the massacred are usually not included in the toll, perhaps because leaders do not usually join in the street demonstrations they organize.[4]
See also
- List of events named massacres
- Mass murder
- Disaster
- Tragedy (event)
- Genocide
- Ethnic cleansing
- Killing spree
References
- ^ a b Oxford English Dictionary Massacre, n.
- ^ a b Oxford English Dictionary Massacre, v.
- ^ Jacques Semelin (2009), "Investigating a massacre", Purify and Destroy: The Political Uses of Massacre and Genocide, Columbia University Press, pp. 376–378, ISBN 9780231142830
- ^ Ronald A. Francisco (2010), "After the massacre", Collective Action Theory and Empirical Evidence, Springer, ISBN 9781441914750
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