How famous do you have to be to be assassinated instead of murdered?

Answer 1

Only world leaders are assassinated. We normal people are merely slain.

Answer 2

In order to classify a murder as an "assassination", the consequences usually must have far-reaching political, religious, and/or social implications. The assassin's agenda and or intentions would also have to be politically/religiously/socially-motivated as well. Just being famous though, doesn't qualify a person to be assassinated (if they were murdered) though. Take John Lennon for instance, he was very famous, but we don't usually refer to his murder as an assassination. Even though his fans mourned his loss all over the world, his death did not result in consequences and/or implications of a political, religious and or social nature.

Answer 3

They are 1 and the same thing. Assassinated just refers to prominent or famous people who are murdered.

Answer 4

Assassination is the deliberate killing of an important person, usually a political figure or other strategically important individual. An assassin (one who carries out an assassination), or the assassin's employer, usually has an ideological or political agenda, and regards the target as a serious obstacle to furthering their agenda. Other motivations may be money (in the case of a contract killing), revenge, or acts of espionage at the request of a government. Assassination, like companion terms such as terrorism and freedom fighter, is often considered to be a loaded term.

ps i love the paris hilton idea

Answer 5

Hey, great question!

I think assassination is generally used for political figures who, almost by definition, are in some way famous. Even famous non-political figures are "murdered."

Answer 6

Assassinated almost always refers to a politically-motivated killing. It is not the fame of the victim, but the motives of the killer that dictate whether it is an assassination.

For instance, killing Brad Pitt would not be an assassination, unless it was because of his politics. Killing a state legislator in South Dakota could be an assassination, if it was meant to alter the politics of the state.

Answer 7

You don't have to be at all famous. To assassinate somebody is to kill them for political reasons.

Therefore you could shoot somebody on your local council because you disagree with their policies and it would be assassination. But if you battered Paris Hilton to death with a pair of high heels it'd still be murder.

Answer 8

I believe assassinations have more to do with politcal figure than with famous people.

Answer 9

to be assassinated you need to be extra famous and preferably have shed loads of money, to be murdered you could just be any Thelma, Cheeseface or Sputnik. :)

(I would have put Tom, Dick or Harry, but Yahoo might blank one of the names our, and I didn't want to be sexist).

Answer 10

When its a police report, or a reported mishap in a newspaper you are murdered. When you are reported with your name and probably photo in a newspaper, you are assassinated