Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily …
Whether it is called genocide (killing people because of their race, religion, ethnicity, or other indelible group membership), politicide (killing people because of their political affiliation), or democide (any mass killings of civilians by a government or militia), killing-by-category targets people for what they are rather than what they do and thus seem to float the usual motives of gain, fear, and vengeance.
— The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker (Page 321)