Merriam-Webster Threatened With Bomb, Shooting Over ‘Girl’ Definition

A man allegedly threatened to bomb the headquarters of the Merriam-Webster dictionary and gun down staff over the reference e-book’s definitions of “woman,” “girl,” and “female,” which he believed had been “part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language.”

Federal authorities allege that between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8 of final yr, Jeremy David Hanson submitted nameless threatening messages by way of Merriam-Webster’s “Contact Us” web page. In response to the threats, Merriam-Webster closed its places of work in Springfield, Massachusetts and New York City for roughly 5 days.

Hanson, a 34-year-old from Rossmoor, California, is slated to look in federal court docket Friday on the cost of 1 rely of interstate communication of threats to commit violence, based on a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. He faces as much as 5 years in jail and a high quality of $250,000 if convicted. He was arrested final week and released on a $25,000 bond, BuzzFeed News reported.

In one message, Hanson reportedly mentioned Merriam-Webster had caved to the “cultural, Marxist, anti-science tranny agenda” with its definition of “female.” Merriam-Webster defines “female” as “of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs” and “having a gender identity that is the opposite of male.”

“You [sic] headquarters should be shot up and bombed. It is sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality,” he supposedly wrote. “You evil Marxists should all be killed. It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place, leaving none of you commies alive.”

On Oct. 8, the California man allegedly despatched one other threatening message by way of the “Contact Us” web page, by which he acknowledged he might “bomb your offices for lying.”

Hanson allegedly didn’t restrict himself to the dictionary’s “Contact Us” web page, although. According to the discharge, he additionally adopted the username @anonYmous on Twitter to publish hateful and threatening feedback on the Merriam-Webster’s web page for “female,” “girl,” and “woman.”

“It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda. There is no such thing as ‘gender identity,’” Hanson wrote in his touch upon the “female” web page, federal authorities declare. “The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.”

Upon additional investigation, federal authorities say they discovered that Hanson had made associated threats in opposition to the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Land O’ Lakes, Hasbro, Inc., and IGN Entertainment, amongst others.

U.S. lawyer Rachael Rollins mentioned in an announcement that nameless threats in opposition to particular communities won’t be tolerated, including that perpetrators can be “identified, arrested, and held accountable in federal court.”

FBI particular agent Joseph Bonavolonta, who’s in command of the company’s Boston division, mentioned of the accusations in opposition to Hanson, “Everyone has a right to express their opinion, but repeatedly threatening to kill people, as has been alleged, takes it to a new level. Threats to life are most certainly not protected speech and they cause real fear in victims.”