“Beyond that, does terminology really matter?”
Yes.
Terminology influences thought processes and how actions are viewed. It is a necessary prerequisite to creating an ‘us vs them’ mindset, it can divide and in today’s day and age there is no such thing as ‘context’. The very use of the phrase ‘civilian’ by police, which I have seen, is an incredibly negative and dangerous use of language. Most of us here understand what you mean by ‘clean shoot’, but were I a lawyer in a courtroom I could use it to a jury to argue that you (the generic ‘you’) have dehumanized a citizen not yet convicted of a crime to the level of an animal or enemy combatant.
Yea, to me “clean” shoot was always used in a hunting sense. I was there to take that animal, and due to that I wanted it to be clean. There were no other options, I was there for only one purpose.
I do not want my LEO’s thinking like that.
Again, words do only weigh what we allow, but they do weigh.
Thanks for the well worded reply, you summed up alot that was hard for me to put to words without rambling ha ha.