The unabridged Merriam-Webster Dictionary boasts around 470,000 different definitions. But only one of them led to the arrest of a California man last week.
Jeremy David Hanson, 34, sent several threats to the dictionary makers, according to the Department of Justice, after getting angered by how the company defines the terms “female,” “girl” and “woman.”
Among other explanations of the word’s meaning, Merriam-Webster lists “a gender identity that is the opposite of male” as an acceptable definition, a meaning that apparently riled up Hanson enough to write to the company.
“There is no such thing as ‘gender identity,’” Hanson allegedly wrote. “The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.”
That was just one of several messages sent by Hanson suggesting violent ends to Merriam-Webster workers. Another, provided by the DOJ reads:
“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.”
Hanson has been indicted on one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence. He also has an admitted history of making sending threatening messages, according to an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint that details a 2015 interview of Hanson conducted by federal investigators in which he expresses regret over previous online threats.
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