Duplicate Keywords - List #63 (murder keywords) (Proposals for Permanent Merger and Auto-Conversion)

@jay_spirit​ 

I would prefer sadistic killer over sadistic murderer, since murder is a legal term. In a fictional world without laws, murderer seems less apt than killer.

Thanks for the suggestion. I made that change.

BTW, do you know what dark killer is even supposed to mean? What's the difference between a killer and a dark killer?

I have no idea, either.  It could mean a psycho killer, a mysterious killer, or a killer who is a shadowy figure (shrouded in darkness). Since it's at best unclear, the keyword should be merged into "killer."

Indeed murder is largely a legal construct. In the most abstract meaning, a murder is an intentional/willful homicide lacking a legal excuse for it to have been committed. However, even this definition can break down or rather be subject to expansion, because of statutes addressing the consequences of (1) a person intentionally harming another person but without the expectation of the injuries resulting in death, or (2) a person threatening to start a "mechanism" of potentially lethal injury but unintentionally engaging the "mechanism" (e.g. dangling somebody from a very high place and threatening to let go without intend to actually let go, or likewise aiming a lethal projectile shooter but unintentionally squeezing the trigger). Also, there is the "felony murder" rule in some jurisdictions, which is like a variation or expansion of prohibiting conspiracy to commit murder. The idea behind the felony murder rule is that a criminal liability is enhanced in when the root cause of an intentional homicide (be it in violation or be it in self-defense) was a highly-felonious behavior that is itself not necessarily homicide, and this extends to accomplices to that root cause. For example, all accomplices to a bank robbery may be charged with a special degree of murder if anybody (including one of the accomplices) winds up being killed (injured to the point of death) by somebody (perhaps a guard or a protective samaritan) immediately caught up in the situation.

I wonder how much work would it be to audit the "dark-killer" keyword and change some instances to "killer-wearing-dark-clothing" (or "killer-wearing-dark-warpaint") and others to "sadistic-killer" (or "gothic-killer"). In the meantime, I'm just as curious about the meaning as you two are. We could take silhouettes (or other shadowy figures) into consideration too.

@jeorj_euler​ 

Just a hunch, but I suspect those "dark" keywords have nothing to do with what the killer is wearing, and much more with the killer's mindset.

Note that 25 of the 32 titles with "dark-murderer," and 20 of the 30 titles with "dark-killer," also have the keyword "psychopath."

Plus, after Jay asked about the "dark" keywords, I noticed these keywords:

At this point it seems pretty obvious to me that the "dark-murderer" and "dark-killer" keywords were one contributor's lazy and ill-conceived attempt to start up a new keyword modeled after the "-hero" keywords, without realizing that "dark-murderer" just does not have the same ring to it as "dark-hero," makes a lot less sense on its face, and invites a lot of confusion as to its meaning. 

Ah, haha. I see. In that sense, "dark" as an adjective belong with a noun ordinarily seen as good, righteous, positive, helpful, protective or neutral.

@jeorj_euler​ Yes, and that is why people intuitively understand "dark-hero" but not "dark-murderer." 

Not to delve to far into philosophy, sociology, psychology or theology, but one of the worsts things a civilized person can do to a civilized community (even a gigantic one) is deprive it of one of its members, so it may not be a surprise that storytellers, novelists, screenwriters, journalists, scholars, documentarians and filmmakers like to incorporate such a topic into their works. Naturally there are also countless film adaptations of the stories from the books of the Torah, Quran and New Testament, like the famous tale of that guy who murdered his own brother and did not even feel a drop of remorse about it. To top it to off, far too many of the murders that have ever been recorded in public history have been a bit petty if not senseless.

@keyword_expert​ 

I'm on board with that.