“familicide”?

now there’s a word that i sincerely hope doesn’t enter the language. no definition needed, of course: you see it, you know what it means. i suppose the author of this article on wcbs.com thought it was … what? clever? a sorely-needed shorthand fragment for what seems to be the fastest-growing type of murder in america?

if “familicide” — the killing of one’s entire family followed by the killing of oneself — really is increasing at the rate it appears to be, the last thing in the world we need to do is christen it with a slang name. language matters. naming a thing increases its power, and often increases its incidence. i’m thinking of the word “wilding” back in the 80’s, and how that very specific type of subway crime skyrocketed after the local newspapers gave it that slick and edgy little name.

“what you doing tonight, man?”

“shit, i’m gone wilding motherfucker, wanna come?”

what comes after familicide? classmateicide, churchicide, colleague-icide…the possibilities are many, and chilling, and would serve only one purpose: to give more life to the thing they allegedly decry. copycat crime is real, and should never be discounted. christening an especially heinous crime with a catchy name, as if it were a slick new product, is to increase by some order of magnitude the likelihood, or certainty, of that crime’s recurrence.

on the mass murder website (can you believe that such a thing exists?), which seems to have stopped gathering stats about ten years ago, the US clearly leads the pack. “mass” is defined by that site as 10+ victims, though quite a few of the murderers listed exceeded that amount by quite a bit — 200% in the case of henry lee lucas, though the numbers are somewhat skewed because they include serial killers as well as mass murderers. it’s mass murder, rather than serial murder, that seems to be on the rise, and i’d define “mass” today as 5+ victims in a single event, which would include many of the the domestic murders we hear about today, such as the recent tragedy of devan kalathat’s family in santa clara.

a loathsome term like familicide both cheapens and promotes the thing it defines.

language matters. words make things happen in the world. don’t agree? contemplate these short sentences:

_______________

i love you.
i hate you.
let’s get married.
i want a divorce.
you’re fired.
i’m not really your mother.
the country is now at war.
25-to-life.
homeland security.
_______________

but maybe not. maybe i’m just paranoid.