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The word "insurrection" — according to most dictionaries, meaning a "violent uprising against civil authority or established government" or some variation thereof — is perfectly fine to describe Jan 6.

It has no legal meaning, so nobody can get charged for participating in an insurrection, but that is of course irrelevant to the question of whether the word is appropriate. There's no legal term for many words that we use colloquially or narratively to describe actions with which one may be legally charged with a crime. If you steal someone's wallet, you may be charged with "theft of personal property", not "pickpocketing", but what you did was pickpocketing.

The fact that most participants were not violent is of course a red herring. They participated in an organized insurrection involving trespassing, destruction of property, conspiracy to commit treason (many participants were actively looking for Mike Pence and the crowd was chanting "Hang Pence"), and so on. "I was only at the party to have fun" is no excuse if the party was an violent, organized riot. You are the company you keep.

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blackeyeblitzar 2 days ago | parent [-]

> The word "insurrection" — according to most dictionaries, meaning a "violent uprising against civil authority or established government" or some variation thereof — is perfectly fine to describe Jan 6.

So every riot is an insurrection then. Do you personally use this word to describe the BLM riots in 2020? What about pro Palestine / anti Israel demonstrations in 2024 that involve blockades of airports and such?

	▲	atombender 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		No. A riot just a public disturbance involving uncontrollable mobs of people. The Jan 6 mob didn't break into an airport, they broke into the Capitol building overtly seeking to perform acts of violence against the government. Not all political demonstrations are insurrections, of course. For example, demonstrations for Palestine, or against abortions, or for better worker's rights, or for women's rights — those are not insurrections because they are advocating for a specific cause, not the overthrow of government. If an anti-Israel demonstration turned into an armed mob that entered the White House or the Capitol seeking to bring about their demands with force, then it would be an insurrection. Intent is important when discussing the meaning of words. Carrying a knife with the intent to chop carrots is not a crime, but carrying one with the intent to chop people is.