The Mapping of Massacres

What would be really interesting to see is a color-coded map of massacres, where one color represents massacres where both sides were armed, and a different color representing massacres where one side was unarmed. Then we could look at additional factors like why one side was unarmed.

PO1 Tony Holland Cynthia Croft SSG Robert Webster MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi Depends on what kind of massacre you were talking about. From the late 1700's to late 1800's under the policies of "Manifest Destiny" the map would be dotted from sea to shining sea with skirmishes between the indigenous peoples of North America and settlers. And they would go both ways...of course the massacre of indigenous peoples would far outweigh the contrary. Those were struggles over land; they were a means to an end. Not trying to say that justified them, just that you could point to an tangible objective. In most civilized countries that is no longer the predominant case...I don't consider the Balkans at the time of the Bosnia conflict, or much of Africa and the middle east to be "civilized".

The twist about massacres in our current day and age is they are abstract and ideological and there is no tangible objective; so there is really no way to negotiate an end to that kind of conflict, i.e., there is no baby to split.

Massacres are usually defined by those who lost the battle.