Hey, there! Log in / Register
Man admits threatening violence against dictionary publisher; has to wait until January to see if judge will throw the book at him
By adamg on Wed, 09/14/2022 - 9:39pm
A California man who threatened to blow up the offices of Merriam-Webster in Springfield because he didn't like its definitions of a number of gender-related words, including "girl," has pleaded guilty to that and to making similar threats against the president of the University of North Texas, the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.
US District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled Jeremy Hanson's sentencing for Jan. 5.
In addition to pleading guilty to the two counts of interstate communication of threatening communications to commit violence, Hanson also acknowledged sending anti-LGBTQ threats to a range of people and companies, including Land O' Lakes, Walt Disney, the governor of California, the mayor of New York City, professors at Loyola Marymount University and a rabbi in New York.In various messages, Hanson expressed his hatred for transgender people, Palestinians, the fact that the new Superman is bi, the alleged neutering of Mr. Potato Head and the removal of racist statues.
Merriam-Webster closed its Springfield and New York offices for five days after receiving Hanson's threats.
Hanson's plea and statement of facts (4.7M PDF).
FBI agent's affidavit about Hanson's activities (433k PDF).
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Land o' Lakes? the butter people?
What on earth did they do? Is it because they took away the Native American woman on the box (which, when cleverly folded, made her knees look like different body parts?)
I'm very curious.
Land O’Lakes!
OMG! I actually still have one of those cleverly folded boxes! I feel the need to keep it because the Native American lady’s image is no longer featured on the box.
Land O’ Lakes
Land O’ Lakes did the American thing with their package design: got rid of the Indian and kept the land.
Yes
Believe it or not, some people are very upset about that. Can you imagine being so worked up about a marketing campaign for butter, a comic book superhero, a cartoon mermaid, and a child's toy that you'd go that nuts and go to jail?
It's called hate
It's called hate. This country is chock fucking full of scum who hate LGBTQ people and are willing to do violence to them and to anyone they perceive as an ally, a supporter, a rainbow capitalist or just someone who doesn't hate LGBTQ people sufficiently.
It is getting worse. It is rapidly getting worse.
As an aside
There's an interesting Op Ed in the Washington Post from the son of the artist who drew the woman used in the packaging. The artist was a Native American himself and did not draw the women to be a racist stereotype. If anything, the artist was the rare example of an American Indian (to use the author's term) being accepted in the advertising world in the 1920s.
The author argues that Land O' Lakes was wrong to eliminate the work of Native artist -- it's not dissimilar to the way native connections are often eliminated by foreign settlers.
Interesting and thoughtful Op Ed
Corporate leaders probably feel the need to remove any human minority image associated with their brand in to avoid charges of stereotyping and racism today. “Mia,” The Land O’ Lakes maiden was a lovely depiction and I thank you for the link to the Washington Post op ed. I feel somewhat awkward about retaining the sophomoric “cleverly folded box.” To me it’s a reminder of childhood humor, albeit clearly demonstrating a lack of good judgment.
Scheduled sentencing
I know what book they're gonna throw at him.
RIGHT-WINGER: "Hurr hurr, the
RIGHT-WINGER: "Hurr hurr, the woke mob loves to go around looking for things to be offended by!"
[reference book publisher brings entries up to date]
RIGHT-WINGER: "JIHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!"
Boi oh Boi
I hope he goes straight and turns the page in his life.