• PunnyName@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Furthermore, Kirk was an influencer activist, and not an elected official.

    Exactly. Not an assassination. I hate that people keep calling it that.

    • phx@lemmy.world
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      20 hours ago

      I’ve never heard being elected official as a criteria for the term, the dictionary definition of assassination is

      “the premeditated act of killing someone suddenly or secretively, especially a prominent person.”

      And there have been plenty of non-electoral assassinations, including those by (or of) mob figures, journalists, and many others.

        • xyzzy@lemmy.today
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          17 hours ago

          The killer in an assassination is by definition an assassin. An assassin is not always some paid mercenary killer (this is rarely the case).

          John Wilkes Booth is an easy example. He was an actor.

      • primrosepathspeedrun@anarchist.nexus
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        1 day ago

        Well, until they’re out of power you should ideally call it nothing at all and deny it ever happened. I walked past the USC campus this morning and saw kirk alive and well. I don’t know what all this hubub is about.

    • Pennomi@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      It’s still an assassination. The definition is broad enough to include the killing of any public figure by surprise attack.