The_Yoda said:
It is the "in part" part of that definition that I take issue with. It opens the term up to be applied to nearly any conflict. You killed say 5% of a group and left the other part alone that is still "in part" and falls under the LEGAL definition of Genocide that the UN adopted. It washes the word out and muddies it's meaning. genocide, the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people because of their ethnicity, nationality, religion, or race. The term, derived from the Greek genos (“race,†“tribe,†or “nationâ€) and the Latin cide (“killingâ€), was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-born jurist who served as an adviser to the U.S. Department of War during World War II. genocidenoungeno·​cide ˈje-nÉ™-ËŒsÄ«d : the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group Lemkin defined “genocide†as "a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves." Notice those do not say "in part" they refer to the targeting of the whole group for elimination. What is the difference between war and genocide? Genocide is the deliberate and often systematic destruction of an ethnic, religious, or racial group. As in warfare, one side often dehumanizes the other side, but unlike warfare, genocide is often waged by one group against another and not the other way around. It comes down to what you think is correct. I understand that you use the UN Legal definition because it fits your narrative. I disagree with the "in part" section of the legal definition and adhere to the creator of the word's definition. If I think something is Genocide then it fits both Lemkin's (and most dictionaries) definition and the UN / US Legal definition. You seem to only support the Legal definition that does not always fit the dictionary definition. As an aside I did see one dictionary definition that was an almost verbatim take from the UN legal one it included ("in part"). Also the fact that the English-Oxford dictionary is behind a paywall kind of sucks. End of the day we will still be in disagreement over Genocide fitting the original point of definitions being weakened.  Genocide is the deliberate and often systematic destruction of an ethnic, religious, or racial group. As in warfare, one side often dehumanizes the other side, but unlike warfare, genocide is often waged by one group against another and not the other way around. |
Oh I thought you meant watering down the genocide definition now as opposed to in 1948, since you reacted to the changing of the definition of anti-semitism now, not 77 years ago. And that newly adopted IHRA definition is also a legal definition. Hence the original dictionary definition was not on my mind...
The reason the UN adopted "in whole or in part" in the legal definition is because it's part of the conventions to prevent genocide from being carried out / completed.
Anyway what's happening in Gaza fits Lemkin's description as well
https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/raphael-lemkin-genocide-convention
In 1944, Lemkin made up a new word to describe these crimes: genocide. Lemkin defined genocide as “the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group.” He built the word, he said, “from the ancient Greek word genos (race, tribe) and the Latin cide (killing), thus corresponding in its formation to such words as tyrannicide, homicide, infanticide, etc.” He wrote, “Genocide is directed against the national group as an entity, and the actions involved are directed against individuals, not in their individual capacity, but as members of the national group.”
This was an important element of the definition of genocide: people were killed or excluded not because of anything they did or said or thought but simply because they were members of a particular group. For Lemkin, genocide was an international crime—a threat to international peace and to humanity’s shared beliefs.
That's exactly what's happening in Gaza, everyone is a target, everyone is deemed guilty, everyone is starved and bombed simply because they are Palestinians.
