Say That Again

In a post on antibiotics research from Megan McArdle we get this:

There’s a wonderful Robert F. Kennedy quote that is very popular at commencements: “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

She goes on to be rather skeptical of RFK's quote, but she should also question the provenance.  It's actually a paraphrase of George Bernard Shaw from Back To Methuselah:

I hear you say "Why?" Always "Why?" You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"

The line, by the way, is spoken by the Serpent in the Garden Of Eden. But this is Shaw's Serpent, not the Bible's, and he gets most of the best lines.

While we're at it, here's the first sentence of documentary film review in The Hollywood Reporter.

The subjects of A People Uncounted are the Roma, better known as Gypsies, who have suffered endless prejudice, poverty and genocide over the centuries.

Since the Roma are still around, I'm guessing they've suffered from attempted genocide.

PS Genocide is a modern term, and some would define it as including killing or harming part of a group.  I'm sorry, but what's the point of the word, then?  Suicide is killing yourself, not hurting yourself or cutting off a finger.  Homicide is killing another, not winging someone.  If there's no death, you've got at most attempted suicide or homicide.  Genocide should be destroying a race, or some identifiable group, or nothing.