I am no longer shocked when I receive an email with a photo of my face super-imposed on an image of crematoria; like many other Jewish writers, and many other women journalists, disgusting harassment is the norm. But now, it’s scientists who are becoming a primary target; a chilling new article in The Boston Globe detailed the mental-health consequences on epidemiologists, who while trying to save us are being subjected to relentless threats.
The threat faced by scientists and journalists coalesced for me in a recent, heart-wrenching op-ed by Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, who was ejected from a news conference by President Trump in 2015. “We journalists should have been tougher on Mr. Trump, questioning his every lie and insult. We should not have let him get away with his racism and xenophobia,” Ramos writes. “We should never again allow someone to create an alternative reality in order to seize the presidency.”