Using inclusive language should be a baseline goal no matter where you sit on the political spectrum; after all, using language that feels best for others is a simple sign of respect. That said, Republicans are working really, really hard to incite anger and terror when it comes to an ongoing push for more inclusive language when it comes to a number of identities and human rights—try asking someone on the far-right to use the phrase “undocumented immigrants” instead of “illegal aliens,” for example, and you’ll see what I mean.
Thanks to the Republican anti-trans push of recent years, expanding definitions of words like “woman” and “girl” have caused a lot of anger. So much anger that 34-year-old Jeremy David Hanson, of Rossmoor, California, was found guilty of—wait for it—two felony charges of “threatening communications to commit violence” against the literal dictionary over its updated definitions, as reported by the HuffPost.
RELATED: More than 4 million students have lost out on book access already thanks to Republican book bans
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Hanson pled guilty to threatening violence against Merriam-Webster. At the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Massachusetts, he pled guilty to one count of interstate communication of threatening communications to commit violence, as well as one count of the same offense that had originally been filed in Texas.
He said he often decided who to send messages to based on their gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity, as reported by ABC News. Threats were made via the website’s “contact us” section back in October 2021 and included remarks such as: “There is no such thing as ‘gender identity.’ The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.” In a separate message, he threatened to “shoot up and bomb” the dictionary’s offices.
"It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place, leaving none of you commies alive,” he wrote in a message via the contact us section, according to prosecutors.
“The only good Marxist is a dead Marxist,” he wrote. “I will assassinate your top editor.”
Other remarks included accusing the dictionary of telling “blatant lies” and promoting “anti-science propaganda.”
In case there was any ambiguity here, Hanson also wrote to the dictionary that it is “sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tr--ny agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality.”
The threats were taken seriously enough that the company closed its offices in both New York City and Springfield, Massachusetts, for several days last year.
Hanson was originally arrested in April and was indicted by a grand jury in June. As of now, Hanson is sentenced to be sentenced on Jan. 5, 2023. He faces up to five years in prison.
Abortion rights, climate change, and gun safety are all on the ballot this fall, and there are literally thousands of ways to get involved in turning our voters. Plug into a federal, state, or local campaign from our GOTV feed at Mobilize and help Democrats and progressives win in November.
Thanks to the Republican anti-trans push of recent years, expanding definitions of words like “woman” and “girl” have caused a lot of anger. So much anger that 34-year-old Jeremy David Hanson, of Rossmoor, California, was found guilty of—wait for it—two felony charges of “threatening communications to commit violence” against the literal dictionary over its updated definitions, as reported by the HuffPost.
RELATED: More than 4 million students have lost out on book access already thanks to Republican book bans
Campaign Action
Hanson pled guilty to threatening violence against Merriam-Webster. At the U.S. District Court in Springfield, Massachusetts, he pled guilty to one count of interstate communication of threatening communications to commit violence, as well as one count of the same offense that had originally been filed in Texas.
He said he often decided who to send messages to based on their gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity, as reported by ABC News. Threats were made via the website’s “contact us” section back in October 2021 and included remarks such as: “There is no such thing as ‘gender identity.’ The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.” In a separate message, he threatened to “shoot up and bomb” the dictionary’s offices.
"It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place, leaving none of you commies alive,” he wrote in a message via the contact us section, according to prosecutors.
“The only good Marxist is a dead Marxist,” he wrote. “I will assassinate your top editor.”
Other remarks included accusing the dictionary of telling “blatant lies” and promoting “anti-science propaganda.”
In case there was any ambiguity here, Hanson also wrote to the dictionary that it is “sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tr--ny agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality.”
The threats were taken seriously enough that the company closed its offices in both New York City and Springfield, Massachusetts, for several days last year.
Hanson was originally arrested in April and was indicted by a grand jury in June. As of now, Hanson is sentenced to be sentenced on Jan. 5, 2023. He faces up to five years in prison.
Abortion rights, climate change, and gun safety are all on the ballot this fall, and there are literally thousands of ways to get involved in turning our voters. Plug into a federal, state, or local campaign from our GOTV feed at Mobilize and help Democrats and progressives win in November.