I know I’m going to catch all you-know-what for this, but the word “murder” when it comes to killing a living organism, does not apply to dogs, cats, pigs, chickens, horses, or any living thing except human beings. That’s the law.
I have no respect whatsoever for Kristi Noem, but in a way I’ve done exactly what she did, except I didn’t boast about it in a book. Decades ago I had a cat, it was very sick and in pain, I could not afford to take it to the veterinarian, my roommate had a .22 pistol, and I humanely euthanized my cat with that gun.
Of this I’m certain: I did not murder my cat.
Then I cried for a couple of hours, and intermittently for another week. I’m thinking I’m also different from Noem in that respect, at least.
But you see those definitions? They only refer to the taking of life of a human being as committing the act of murder.
If it applied to other animals, such as dogs, then it would have to apply to all other non-human animals, such as livestock and game animals. But we know it doesn’t. Vegans in the audience notwithstanding, when was the last time you cried “Murder most foul!!!” before digging into your hamburger or fried chicken or pork chop or fish fillet? Yep, you weren’t terribly worried about the killing of a cow or a pig, were you?
(You and I may not like it, but in some societies it is (or at least was) perfectly acceptable to consume a dog in the exact same was as livestock.)
To use the word “murder” other than strictly figuratively otherwise is to show yourself as being sensationalistic and crass.
I would think we in this community are above base hyperbole.
Words are important. To use them when they don’t properly apply is to cheapen them.
We here at Daily Kos are better than that.