Difference between being assassinated/murdered?

I've often wondered what exactly the difference is between the two? I have heard people say, for example, john lennon was assassinated and murdered, where someone like JFK was only ever assassinated.

Just wondering if there even is a difference between them. Tried to google it, unfortunately it was not very helpful. Most posts were saying that murder was for profit or personal revenge/reasons, whereas assassination was political, but I don't see how lennon would have been political ( even though he spoke about politics on occasion ). Just wondering what other people thought.

Cheers.

=)

Assassination

1. To murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack, as for political reasons.
2. To destroy or injure treacherously: assassinate a rival's character.

Murder

1. The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.
2. Slang Something that is very uncomfortable, difficult, or hazardous: The rush hour traffic is murder.
3. A flock of crows. See Synonyms at flock1.

Here is an example of how the words work.

Every assassination is a murder.
But not every murder is an assassination.

*Assassination is a subset of murder, a specific type of murder.

reply to post by muzzleflash


If every assassination is a murder, then who dies from character assassination?

Originally posted by Evolutionsend
reply to post by muzzleflash

 

If every assassination is a murder, then who dies from character assassination?

The character was murdered.

2. To destroy or injure treacherously: assassinate a rival's character.

.

reply to post by muzzleflash


The definition of murder has to include a human death. Not every assassination is a murder.

reply to post by Rhodin


There are some who believe that Lennon's assassination was politically motivated.

Originally posted by Evolutionsend
reply to post by muzzleflash

 

Character is not a human. Character is a trait of a human.

Murder is not human or organism exclusive.

3. To put an end to; destroy:

Originally posted by Evolutionsend
reply to post by muzzleflash

 

The definition of murder has to include a human death. Not every assassination is a murder.

edit on 30-10-2011 by Evolutionsend because: (no reason given)

Incorrect.

A murder of crows has no reference to humans dying.

A sports team murdering their opponents in the game is a metaphor for the level of domination they exhibited.

How did you do on the pop quiz today?
"Oh , I murdered it."

I understand what the words 'mean', but I'm trying more to clarify what makes one assassinated exactly?

Take any actor/actress who has been speaking up about politics. They would obviously be a prominent person, but would it be assassination or murder?

reply to post by Rhodin


assassins get paid to murder

reply to post by muzzleflash


How does character assignation end someone's character? It doesn't end it's existence, it just makes it look worse than before.

reply to post by Rhodin


I'm not exactly sure but you would hire an assassin and you wouldn't hire a murderer maybe that could be the difference. Different motives perhaps accuring something of value but then again I'm not sure are there any English majors out there?

Originally posted by Rhodin
I understand what the words 'mean', but I'm trying more to clarify what makes one assassinated exactly?

Take any actor/actress who has been speaking up about politics. They would obviously be a prominent person, but would it be assassination or murder?

By my own definition an assassination is over politics, money, power, something along those lines. Murder can be for any reason.

Originally posted by Evolutionsend
reply to post by muzzleflash

 

How does character assignation end someone's character? It doesn't end it's existence, it just makes it look worse than before.

The character never actually existed, it's an abstraction.

The reason it is called character assassination is probably because the reasoning behind the attack on character, eg: political, economic, social, military reasons.

Originally posted by Evolutionsend

Originally posted by Rhodin
I understand what the words 'mean', but I'm trying more to clarify what makes one assassinated exactly?

Take any actor/actress who has been speaking up about politics. They would obviously be a prominent person, but would it be assassination or murder?

By my own definition an assassination is over politics, money, power, something along those lines. Murder can be for any reason.

Correct, the assassination is agenda driven and plays on the larger scheme of things.

Originally posted by micmerci
reply to post by Rhodin

 

There are some who believe that Lennon's assassination was politically motivated.

That's a likely possibility.

Check out Lennon's last interview, with Rolling Stone. *But Playboy created the book about it I believe?*

He said some very provocative things throughout that, and it wouldn't surprise me if some of those views led to or increased the reasoning behind his killing.

There are several good books on the subject, just Google around a bit and you will find all kinds of excellent reading on the subject.

It is said that the word assassin comes from the Arabic word haschishin for hashish user. But Hassan and his followers didn't speak Arabic; they were Persians. Assassin comes from Hassassin -- a follower of Hassan.

Etymology of Assassin

Hassan would drug young men with a substance which "cast them into a deep sleep" from which they could not be awakened. They were then carried to a beautiful secret garden which was impenetrable and unseen by any but those intended to be his haschishin. When they awoke in the garden, surrounded by beautiful naked women and boys, they were told that they were in Paradise. After a few hours of bliss, they were again made unconscious with the unknown substance. Awakening back in the presence of "The Old Man of the Mountain" they were told that he had given them this glimpse of Paradise and that they would go to Paradise if they entered his service and followed his instructions or died in his service. Thus, he recruited an army of assassins who were the first terrorist gang.

While we think of assassins as hired help, brainwashed, or misled killers ( MK-Ultra, soldiers ), also fall into that category.

Assassinate means to kill someone of renown for a political reason.

Simple as that. It's the motive that is important for the term.