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Man charged with threatening to blow up dictionary company, others in repeated LGBTQ tirades

By adamg on Sat, 04/23/2022 - 9:24pm

Wonkette sums up the case against Jeremy Hanson, a Californian who posted threats to blow up Springfield-based Merriam-Webster over the way it defined several gender-related words, including "girl."

It takes awhile to sum up the case, because Hanson is also charged in making similar threats against a New York rabbi, a DC Comics writer, Land O' Lakes, the ACLU, USA Today, elected and school officials in Wisconsin, Amnesty International, professors at Loyola Marymount University, the University of North Texas and Disney, because of his hatred for transgender people, Palestinians, the fact that the new Superman is bi, the alleged neutering of Mr. Potatohead and the removal of racist statues.

Surprise: He got in trouble for making similar threats in 2015.

According to an affidavit by an FBI agent on the case, Hanson's mother says he's somewhere on the autism spectrum and has impulse-control issues, but that the ardent Trump supporter has no weapons and he only acts out and gets when he stops taking his medication and that she tries to stop him when she's awake, but a woman has to get her sleep sometime. As Wonkette notes, there are several million of people on the autism spectrum who do not go on violence-threatening rampages.

Merriam-Webster shut its offices in Springfield and New York for five days after getting the threats, the affidavit states.

Hanson is facing five years in prison if convicted on one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence, according to the US Attorney's office in Boston, which is leading the prosecution effort.

Innocent, etc.

Neighborhoods: 
West of 495
Topics: 
Crime
Free tagging: 
Springfield
AttachmentSize
PDF icon Complete FBI affidavit432.64 KB


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Comments

By Ron Newman on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 5:44am.

She's a sweet and loving person, at least as politically liberal as I am, and was a good friend when I lived in Los Angeles in the early 80s. We hung out together all the time, and I went to her wedding. Hard to understand how the kid turned out this way.

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By goeslikethis on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 11:42am.

but, while this doesn't explain the behavior of her son, the content of his transphobic "moral panic" is clearly informed by and within the orbit of right-wing media and political ecosystems:

https://newrepublic.com/article/163015/tucker-carlson-spa-qanon-violence...

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By anon on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 1:40pm.

Yes, Fox, the GOP and the rest of the right push hate and fear of others to get votes and sell commercials. While it does get out the vote for conservatives, and keep people watching fox, it spills into discrimination, hate speech and violence. And the conservation movement is ok with that tradeoff.

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By Irma la Douce on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 6:22am.

It’s “Land O’ Lakes”, the butter company, which he targeted after it removed the Native-American image from its packaging.

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By adamg on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 2:51pm.

Yes, I removed the F. The issue was bit more than just a "Native American image" on their butter, though - it was what that particular image represented. But in the context of this guy and his alleged activities, that's fairly minor.

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By Ron Newman on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 6:02pm.

What did she represent?

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By Lee on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 6:11pm.

… ( and please don’t shoot the messenger ), as the Butter Squaw.

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By Irma la Douce on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 6:32pm.

Dropped in response to growing objections about using indigenous names/imagery as product logos (sports teams, beer, cigarettes, etc).

Also, the fact that she was on her knees inspired some creative alterations to the image that made it even more offensive.

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By Rob on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 6:55pm.

...and, as I heard someone observe - they got rid of the Native American and kept the land.

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By goeslikethis on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 6:32pm.

nuanced context:

https://womensmediacenter.com/news-features/land-olakes-finally-drops-na...

https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Colonial_Problem/qny3CwAAQBAJ?h...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/29/my-ojibwe-father-drew...

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By anon on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 11:24am.

Prosecute this whack job . Doesn’t take much of a stroll through the brietbarts of Instagram and Twitter to see how many people embrace this extremism and get away with it too because social media moderation is absolute rubbish

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By brianjdamico on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 9:46am.

That's why we know about it now.

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By JamesCD on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 12:22pm.

If you’re going to quote outside sources, please use a more reliable than The Wonkette. The Wonkette is known to use half-truths and exaggerate news.

https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/wonkette/?amp=1

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By adamg on Sun, 04/24/2022 - 2:10pm.

I originally read the FBI affidavit on Friday, after it was unsealed, put it aside and then didn't do anything with it because, well, Springfield is a bit too westa Worcester for me and because while the local US Attorney's office played up the Massachusetts angle, he was doing a lot of murder threatening even further away from here.

But then I saw the Wonkette piece, they encapsulated what was in the affidavit pretty well and so instead of doing that myself, decided it was at least worth linking to. If you do want to compare, the complete affidavit is linked at the bottom of my summary.

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By brianjdamico on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 9:45am.

I mean, I too would shy away from using Wonkette as a primary source, but your link doesn't exactly say what you say about it either...

Overall, we rate Wonkette strongly left biased based on story selection and opinions that always favor the left and denigrate the right. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to satire being mixed with factual news, which is misleading.

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By eeka on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 11:42am.

Overton windows, yo.

What's considered centrist in this country is considered extreme right in many other places. "Denigrating the right" typically means denouncing bigotry. "Strongly left biased" usually refers to such extremist claims such as that racism occurs regularly and that trans folks are human and deserve rights.

If that's biased reporting, then I don't want to read whatever unbiased reporting is.

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By lbb on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 10:28am.

Did you also have similar problems with John Stewart?

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By lbb on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 9:07am.

Hanson is also charged in making similar threats against a New York rabbi, a DC Comics writer, Land O' Lakes, the ACLU, USA Today, elected and school officials in Wisconsin, Amnesty International, professors at Loyola Marymount University, the University of North Texas and Disney

Interesting that he is choosing to threaten these various institutions and not directly going after transgender people, Palestinians, and bisexual Supermen.

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By goeslikethis on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 10:27am.

transgender people, Palestinians, and bisexuals that he thinks those various (relatively powerful) institutions should be upholding, but in his mind are not, because of the contagion of the enemy within, that he finds so infuriating.

The fantasy is that the Left is winning (with cultural Marxism and so forth) but the actual LGBTQ community and Palestinians might as well be comic book characters for all he cares.

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By Homer Bedloe on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 9:59am.

Timothy McVeigh never acted out, either, until he acted out.

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By lbb on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 10:30am.

...there need to be consequences for threats even if they're judged "not credible".

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By Daan on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 1:11pm.

Except that the fellow has bona code mental health issues. The Evangelical preachers have as their only excuse lust for power.

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By brianjdamico on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 1:32pm.

and there are some real gems in there allegedly from this individual.

I think I'd like to understand how someone could decide to act this way. I don't think I'll ever understand it. Randomly finding out about something some place you likely have no connection and then just being a garbage human being to a stranger.

In August, however, Hanson allegedly learned that the University of Wisconsin was removing a 42-ton boulder that, when first installed in 1925, was referred to by a nickname that included the n-word.

Hanson emailed a local elected official, a Black woman, about her role in removing the memorial, according to the FBI. In the email, Hanson allegedly called the alderwoman the n-word repeatedly, in addition to multiple slurs used to demean women. He also told her that she deserved “to be raped and lynched for tearing out that boulder,” the FBI affidavit said.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/04/25/merriam-webster-gender-...

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By goeslikethis on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 1:57pm.

not a lot there that is surprising:

Hanson’s threats keyed on several of the lightning rods that have divided Americans over the past few years in the most recent iteration of the culture wars, including sexuality, gender, and race-related monuments, mascots and logos.

[...] The threats date to at least 2014, and the FBI questioned him as early as 2015 after he allegedly threatened to rape and kill multiple people. During that first interview, Hanson was remorseful and promised not to make any more threats, according to court records.

For years, he kept that promise. The FBI listed no harassment by Hanson between 2015 and 2020.

Except for the physical threats (and slurs), it tracks pretty clearly with mainstream rhetoric and moral panic promulgated by the right, and it even aligns with election cycles. I mean, this assertion is something one encounters in all kinds of right-wing ecosystems:

“Insane Marxists like you are destroying America,” he allegedly wrote.

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By lbb on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 2:53pm.

...and I promise not to do it again." I need to remember that so that if I ever become a sociopath like this guy, I can drag out my remorseful look and promise not to do it again and face absolutely no consequences.

How stupid do you have to be to believe that someone who acted like this won't repeat the behavior? How indifferent to public well-being do you have to be to accept the promise of a sociopath?

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By goeslikethis on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 3:02pm.

with Black Identity Extremism.

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By Karl on Mon, 04/25/2022 - 5:33pm.

This scumbag does NOT speak for ANY of us. To us, he's neurotypical.

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