I think that’s too reductive; genocide is somewhat vaguely defined, but I’ve always seen it as systematically trying to eradicate some large group of civilians; AFAIK the Russian military isn’t deliberately killing those who aren’t fighting back (not even if they’re Nazis). On the other hand, maybe “genocide” is just a flawed term since it’s based on presumed intent rather than results
Jokes aside it’s a good conversation. It is a vague term and continues to be the world’s most popular word for the greatest crime imaginable. What I find interesting is that mass killing of people of a particular political ideology still falls out of the bounds of the ever growing definition of genocide.100,000 communists in South Korea are systematically killed and it doesn’t capture the imagination quite the same if it can’t be called genocide.
I’m not arguing that genocide should be a more vague term. I feel like a need a word for mass killing of largely unarmed demographics that is more flexible.
Agreed, apologies if I seemed hostile. Regardless of how strict the definition is, Amerika is by far the worst (especially if you include sanctions placed on countries like Cuba, the DPRK and Syria, which I think is entirely reasonable considering the effects and stated intentions)
genocide is when you consistently try to avoid civilian casualties
I don’t mind defining all war as genocide. USA gets to be the world’s most genocidal nation either way.
But they already were.
I think that’s too reductive; genocide is somewhat vaguely defined, but I’ve always seen it as systematically trying to eradicate some large group of civilians; AFAIK the Russian military isn’t deliberately killing those who aren’t fighting back (not even if they’re Nazis). On the other hand, maybe “genocide” is just a flawed term since it’s based on presumed intent rather than results
Jokes aside it’s a good conversation. It is a vague term and continues to be the world’s most popular word for the greatest crime imaginable. What I find interesting is that mass killing of people of a particular political ideology still falls out of the bounds of the ever growing definition of genocide.100,000 communists in South Korea are systematically killed and it doesn’t capture the imagination quite the same if it can’t be called genocide.
I’m not arguing that genocide should be a more vague term. I feel like a need a word for mass killing of largely unarmed demographics that is more flexible.
Agreed, apologies if I seemed hostile. Regardless of how strict the definition is, Amerika is by far the worst (especially if you include sanctions placed on countries like Cuba, the DPRK and Syria, which I think is entirely reasonable considering the effects and stated intentions)