cynicallyinsane wrote:It seems everyone always agrees that murder is wrong.
I tend to disagree with this statement.
I am also not sure if you mean "murder" - the word (in definition)or the "murder" the actual act. If it's the word, then I'll agree, but the latter will depend on the definnition of the word based on the act in question. I'll explain...
1) Currently there are military operations going on in the Middle East. All the parties involved has experienced a number of casualties. The families of these soldiers are more likely to think of the death of their family member as "murder", where the opposing forces might think of it as retribution for the wrong that has been done against them and vice versa.
2) The word murder is also relative to a sense of morality. In psychological terms, a person classified as a psychopath is not a "maniac killer". These people are unfortunate human beings without the ability to experience emotions and therefore lacking the morality associated wit it. Thus they are more likely to have criminal tendencies than normal people. To these people life has no meaning (because the lack of emotions & morality causes detachment), thus they do not think of people as "human" but rather as "interactive objects". And to destroy an object is not murder. So ultimately this means the psychopath does not see it (what we perceive as "murder"), as murder.
So if one can't see one's deed as murder, it is not possible for it to be murder.
This to me is is murder in context of a morality point of view. In law its a whole different story.