Acrimonious Spice & Acerbic Sauce

I had written of a “virtuoso of carnage” in an article to a local newspaper (FreePress, Indore, India, 26 May 2004). A reader wrote to ask what I meant by it for I had referred to a senior Indian politician in political power who persuaded some of his flunkies in the civil services and in the police forces to turn a blind eye to a pogrom of members of one community by members of another.

“A virtuoso is a great musician, a maestro or a savant,” the writer said in her email. “Isn’t it improper to use it with an awful word like carnage?”
I quoted Humpty Dumpty in my reply: “'When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less'. Loathsome acts do bid me season words with acrimonious spice and acerbic sauce. 21st century India must brook no nonsense. Enough is enough!"

Journalists around the world often report ‘carnage’ as if they are reporting a carnival. The following examples from May 2004 issues, reveal coldness and indifference:

“… fourteen Muslims were burnt alive in a communal carnage in Best Bakery in Vadodara town of Gujarat in 2002...” – Keralanext.com
“Iraq Desert Bombing Video Shows Carnage” – Guardian
“Turks Question Alliance with Israel after Gaza Carnage” – AFP

Dictionaries define carnage as ‘the killing of large numbers of people, especially in war.’ Synonyms: bloodbath, butchery, massacre, pogrom, saturnalia of blood, slaughter, holocaust etc.

The word carnage entered English from 16th c. Italian via French and Dutch. English also created other words – carnal, carnivorous, and carrion from Latin ‘caro’ or ‘carn’ meaning flesh.

A virtuoso is one who is ‘extremely good’ at something – at playing a musical instrument, or being a pundit and a luminary in a field of human endeavour. An impresario of carnage must show cold-blooded competence from devilish design to gory climax.

Take my word for it! I made up the expression “virtuoso of carnage” after I asked myself two questions:
“Was there a method in the madness?”
“Were the victims chosen with precision and finesse?”

Any maestro will confirm that ‘method, precision, and finesse make a virtuoso’!
The word virtuoso (plural virtuosi) entered English in the 17th c. from the Italian word meaning ‘one who has special knowledge of a subject’. It is cousin to virtue (conforming to moral principles) and virtuous (meaning ‘valiant’ in the 13th c; ‘righteous’ after 14th c.).
No moral principle, not an iota of valour, nor soupcon of righteousness ruled the Hitlerian pogrom. Some human hearts can harbour shockingly virulent hate.

Infinite hope amidst human conflict is Walt Whitman’s promise in his moving paean to patriotism with a human face:

“Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice,
Be not dishearten’d –
Affection shall solve the problems of Freedom yet.”