# Should the shooting in Boston have been called a "Massacre"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 15, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540 "2022-02-15T15:43:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/1 "2022-02-15T15:43:50Z")
The shooting I refer to is of course [this one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre) for those not familiar with American history. Is there a definition of “massacre”? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/2 "2022-02-15T15:46:49Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Is there a definition of “massacre”? Yes, there is. And here’s a discussion of the word. > **[Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre)** > > Note: Varies by jurisdiction > Note: Varies by jurisdiction > A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians en masse by an armed group. The Boston one was probably called something else in England. ETA: “The incident on King Street.” ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/3 "2022-02-15T15:49:38Z")
IMHO, a massacre has to involve a substantial number of victims, and in a totally lopsided way. Opinions seem to be divided on whether or not the killed people need to be innocent - I’ve seen plenty of instances of military combat where it’s said that one side got “massacred” even though they were belligerents, not innocents (i.e., “Carthage massacred the Romans at Cannae.”) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/4 "2022-02-15T16:02:39Z")
A massacre is either 56-3 or 7-0, depending on the shape of the ball. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/5 "2022-02-15T16:16:36Z")
Apparently, back in the old days Americans actually cared when unarmed people were killed by State agents, even if it was only three of them (and one wasn’t even white!). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/6 "2022-02-15T16:40:22Z")
Don’t look to the dictionary for an answer to such a loaded word. Paul Revere called it a massacre. John Adams called it self-defense. So, who do you agree with? A propagandist or a lawyer. If an unbiased journalist named the event, it would have been called a “shooting” like how the one at Kent State was named. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/7 "2022-02-15T17:52:03Z")
It was merely the taming of an unruly mob. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/8 "2022-02-16T06:00:55Z")
The word can be used rather figuratively, so a “massacre” might be many or few people killed, or none at all. We had a “massacre” on a Saturday night a few years back in which two political people resigned, a third got fired, and a fourth suffered sufficient backlash (among other pressures) that he quit too not long after. > **[Saturday Night Massacre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Massacre)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > The Saturday Night Massacre was a series of events that took place in the United States on the evening of Saturday, October 20, 1973, during the Watergate scandal. U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox; Richardson refused and resigned effective immediately. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; Ruckelshaus refused, and also resigned. ... ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/9 "2022-02-16T16:48:16Z")
And wasn’t there an earlier fatal conflict between colonists and troops? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2022, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-shooting-in-boston-have-been-called-a-massacre/959540/10 "2022-02-16T17:12:19Z")
If by troops you mean redcoats, I don’t think so. In North Carolina, a handful of colonists were killed in battle or hanged during the Regulator Insurrection but unlike the mob in Boston, those killed were active combatants taking up arms against the King’s representatives whose troops were also mostly colonists.