A California man has been arrested after he threatened to bomb Merriam-Webster over gender definitions.
Jeremy David Hanson, 34, is looking at prison time after he allegedly violently threatened dictionary company Merriam-Webster over its updated definitions for genders. His threats against the company started back in 2021 and continued until October 8, 2021. According to CBS News, Hanson sent the company a slew of “threatening messages and comments demonstrating bias against specific gender identities” on its website and through its “Contact Us” page.
In response, Merriam-Webster shut down its offices in Springfield, Massachusetts and New York City for five days. At some point, Hanson then allegedly wrote: “There is no such thing as ‘gender identity.’ The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.” He placed his comment underneath the dictionary’s website for the word “female,” CBS News reports.
Hanson’s threats were allegedly sent from the handle “@ anonYmous.”
Another one of Hanson’s submitted messages included: “You [sic] headquarters should be shot up and bombed. It is sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny [sic] agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality. 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.”
Merriam-Webster is just one of Hanson’s victims. CBS News reports he’s threatened individuals, the American Civil Liberties Union, Hasbro, Inc., IGN Entertainment and others. However, Joseph R. Bonavolonta, a special agent at the FBI Boston Division, says there are certain lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
“Everyone has a right to express their opinion, but repeatedly threatening to kill people, as has been alleged, takes it to a new level,” said Bonavolonta said in a Friday statement. “Threats to life are most certainly not protected speech and they cause real fear in victims.”
