Q: When is murder not "murder"?

murder [

ˈmərdər]

noun: the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.

verb: kill (someone) unlawfully and with premeditation.

I was in the kitchen making my 'purple' green smoothie. The beet dominated the entire color scheme. It was filled with raw greens, looked purple, but I call it a "green smoothie".

The radio was playing in the background and the NPR guy was talking about the “murder” of these medical workers. I have no problem with them calling the act “murder”; my problem is that they don’t call the killing by the occupation forces “murder”.

It reminded me of the NYT reporting after I returned from Vietnam. They always referred to the Vietnamese fighters as the “enemy”. It was my first realization that the media's news stories represented a point of view - US military propaganda rather than news. They were able to have a greater impact because they were filled with enough news that seemed like credible journalism.

The same thing happened this morning on NPR. They never refer to killing by the occupiers (US or NATO forces) as murder. I don’t know what else it is. If you are calling it “murder” for one side, then let’s be truthful and call it “murder” for the other side too.

The Wikileaks published a US military video and called it “Collateral Murder”. That sounds like media calling it as it is for a change. They didn't create the video, the US military did. They just put it on the internet.

I would think it should be easier to identify "murder" as "murder" than a "purple" smoothie as a "green smoothie".

A: When it's a news story about the US military or the CIA