Threatening the dictionary

A California man has been charged for making threats to commit violence against various companies and individuals, including the ACLU, Amnesty International, Disney, Hasbro (maker of Potato Head toys), Land O’Lakes, USA Today, academics, politicians, school-board members, and a college president. Most startling, to me: the threatmaker made threats against Merriam-Webster over the M-W definitions of female and girl. The top lookup at M-W right now: female.

The affidavit in support of a criminal complaint describes the threatmaker as having been diagnosed with “Asperger’s syndrome, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression” and as taking “several psychiatric medications.” It doesn’t say anything though about where he might have gotten ideas about how to pick his targets.

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September 16: “Man who threatened Merriam-Webster with anti-LGBTQ violence pleads guilty” (The Washington Post).