Talk:Wilderness Road
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[edit] Wow !
What an amazing article! full of drama and evocative period detail. I don't know what constitutes a "featured article" but this one certainly deserves to be highlighted in some way.
"In 1750, Dr. Thomas Walker, a Virginian, explored and documented the existence and features of Cumberland Gap, which had been worn down by buffalos (American bison) and Indian hunting parties. (Kincaid, 47)"
- Is that actually saying that the Cumberland Gap was created by bison and people? Perhaps it is supposed to mean that the path that Daniel Boone widened was created by Indians and bison? Pfly 18:25, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Chickamauga attacks - "murder" vs "kill"
The article consistently uses "killed" to refer to settler deaths from Native American attacks, except for the Chickamauga raids of 1784 which are called "murders". There is some logic to this - "killed" is a more neutral word which does not necessarily imply a right or wrong side, but the article makes clear the Chickamauga avoided well-defended parties and attacked those whose power to resist was limited. It could be argued that the power inequality in these cases meant they were murders instead of simply killings.
On the other hand, murder also implies a guilty party (the murderer) and a degree of innocence for the victim. While the settlers the Chickamauga atatcked may not have been able to defend themselves, it is beyond the scope of the article to determine whether their use of the Wilderness Road to occupy what was previously Native American land makes them blameless in the subsequent killings.
In the interests of a neutral point of view, I have changed this single use of "murder" to "kill". The facts of the matter are retained and readers can draw their own conclusions about whether the killings were murders. In making this change please note I am not arguing the rights or wrongs of the occupation of Native American land, which is a matter for people much more expert than me.
Other points of view or disagreements welcome. Thanks also to MichaelCYoung for raising this at WP:KY. Euryalus 01:09, 14 October 2007 (UTC)
- I support the use of "killed" instead of "murdered" in the interest of NPOV, unless I hear an opinion counter to that. I do believe "murdered" is a word that does in fact fill a use on some topics, but I think the article benefits by not using the word murder as a synonym of kill. -- Steven Williamson (HiB2Bornot2B) - talk ▓▒░ Go Big Blue! ░▒▓ 16:20, 15 October 2007 (UTC)
