Ann
Ravel was a relatively unknown government official, until her words got
featured on the Drudge Report. Soon, the trolls were screaming at her
to drop dead.
In October 2014, then-Federal Election Commission Vice Chairwoman Ann
Ravel did what she often does: speak her mind about political campaign
issues.
“A re-examination of the Commission’s approach to the Internet and
other emerging technologies is long overdue,” Ravel, a Democrat, wrote
in lamenting a deadlocked commission vote over whether an Ohio-based
business group must include disclaimers on political ads it posted for
free on YouTube.com.
But Ravel’s statement—just finding it on the FEC’s website in no small
feat—didn’t disappear into the Internet’s bowels as bureaucratic
missives often do.
Instead, in a sign of how toxic American politics have become, it
spawned unbridled ugliness, including death threats that have drawn the
attention of law enforcement. What appears to have initially prompted
the torrent of messages targeting Ravel: an Oct. 25, 2014, banner
headline on the Drudge Report: “DEMS ON FEC MOVE TO REGULATE DRUDGE.”
“Die, fascist, die!” one anonymous person wrote to Ravel in an email
reviewed by the Center for Public Integrity.
“Hope you have a heart attack,” read another email.
“Go fall down about ten flights of stairs,” yet another person wrote.
Other threats, while less overt, are equally disquieting.
“Best to be careful what you ask for. You will more than likely find
the ‘Nazi’ scenario showing its ugly head,” one wrote to Ravel, who is
a (Hollywood) Jew.
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