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onioning t1_j07dm7x wrote

Reply to comment by Far_Vegetable7105 in Oregon governor commutes all 17 of state's death sentences by Slavic_Dusa

You're not wrong, but this is pretty pedantic. The person to replied to just used the wrong word.

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Far_Vegetable7105 t1_j07ei70 wrote

I disagree that this distinction is just pedantry. Using the wrong word so that anyone who disagrees with your position looks like a monster is a rhetorical trick people use all the time. And it's really good at keeping people from actually talking with each other about their opinions and views.

Edit: not saying that this was the above poster's goal with using that word but the correction is not mere pedantry.

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onioning t1_j07f9je wrote

It can be, but in this case replace "murder" with "unjust killing" and that doesn't change anything. The emotional heft comes from what's being described, not how it is being described.

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Far_Vegetable7105 t1_j07fzr0 wrote

They use murder three times the first two are synonymous with 'unjust killing' the last one stops making sense if you sub in 'unjust killing' which is a really really good illustration of my point.

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onioning t1_j07jvxy wrote

"Unjust killing" works fine in all cases.

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Far_Vegetable7105 t1_j07l3n4 wrote

Lets say it does. Then I can say that unjust killing in this case = a certain kind of accident. So the above poster is just flat out wrong but in a way that is masked by using the word murder.

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