Olivia Lynch Brooklyn Posters, the practice of releasing someone's private information for retribution or punishment known as "doxxing" has existed. It has been directed toward reporters, law enforcement officials, and women opposing sexual violence.
Doxxing efforts have been employed since last fall to "name and shame" anyone who voice thoughts on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
On billboards close to Harvard's campus, names of Harvard students who signed onto a statement from the student group Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee were conspicuously displayed. Editor-in-chief of a scientific publication was let go for sharing a satirical piece on Twitter. One Florida school system assigned a teacher on vacation to send an email acknowledging the Palestinian community. For pro-Israel social media remarks, NYU Langone Health dismissed a doctor.
Although most doxxing campaigns run just a few days, their repercussions are noticed for months.
Olivia Lynch Brooklyn Posters saw a sign she had seen a few times since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7. She was heading home after dinner in Brooklyn, N.Y. on November 2.
My first reaction was a twingle in my heart," Lynch added. "Wow, look at this adorable child. Look at these beautiful folks becoming pawns in a war. They seem like targets. This is horrible.
Though the poster is meant to seem like a typical missing person's poster, one of the faces of the 240 hostages captured by Hamas is added in brilliant red at the top. Anyone may print the free online posters in more than thirty languages and distribute them. Israeli artists Nitzan Mintz, Dede Bandaid, and Tal Huber—who created these posters—told NPR in a statement that their goal is to draw attention to the innocent people being imprisoned.
Videos of individuals ripping down these posters have gone viral as some, including the artists themselves, consider it as an antisemitic deed.
Lynch disagrees that removing the posters is antisemitic.
Lynch remarked, "these posters don't exist in a vacuum." "I believe they are accentuating the message one was observing, that Israel is entirely justified in what they are doing in Gaza."
Lynch thus tore down a poster she came upon on her walk home on November 2.
What was going through my mind at this point was that this Olivia Lynch Brooklyn Posters is justifying the destruction of Gaza because of these hostages," Lynch added.
Lynch was photographed doing this, and by the morning the internet had a video showing her demolishing the poster. Instagram pages like @JewsHateDatabase uploaded the footage under the statement "Help us find out who she is — Jew hater spotted in Williamsburg Brooklyn."
NPR asked the creators of the page several times for a comment, but has not heard anything.
Lynch received hundreds of letters loaded with death threats, threats of sexual violence, and vows to be let go from her employment teaching at an after-school program called Wild Ferns with less than five staff members.
One email NPR checked said, "I hope you get lynched like your last name suggests." Someone else replied to her, "Hope you get raped by Nazi Hamas and burn in hell." "I will make sure every employer knows who you are," another reads.
The aftermath
Lynch received a call from her boss saying she had been let go days after she tore down the poster.
A few weeks later, she claimed unemployment benefits, contending that she had a right to voice political views outside of the job.
"I thought of it as perhaps a minor act of civil disobedience," Lynch remarked. "It remained peaceful. I was pulling down a piece of provocative misinformation.
How might events like this compromise free speech culture?
While none of these acts — tearing down a poster, doxxing someone or firing someone for misbehavior — are illegal, Aaron Terr, the Director of Public Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a nonprofit that works to defend free speech, said that these actions do harm free speech culture in the U.S.
"If Americans believe trip wires are everywhere and they don't know exactly what they can and cannot say, you end up in a scenario where millions of Americans opt out of the national political conversation," Terr said.
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Thomas Hardy
Olivia Lynch Brooklyn Posters, the practice of releasing someone's private information for retribution or punishment known as "doxxing" has existed. It has been directed toward reporters, law enforcement officials, and women opposing sexual violence.
Doxxing efforts have been employed since last fall to "name and shame" anyone who voice thoughts on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
On billboards close to Harvard's campus, names of Harvard students who signed onto a statement from the student group Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee were conspicuously displayed. Editor-in-chief of a scientific publication was let go for sharing a satirical piece on Twitter. One Florida school system assigned a teacher on vacation to send an email acknowledging the Palestinian community. For pro-Israel social media remarks, NYU Langone Health dismissed a doctor.
Although most doxxing campaigns run just a few days, their repercussions are noticed for months.
Olivia Lynch Brooklyn Posters saw a sign she had seen a few times since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7. She was heading home after dinner in Brooklyn, N.Y. on November 2.
My first reaction was a twingle in my heart," Lynch added. "Wow, look at this adorable child. Look at these beautiful folks becoming pawns in a war. They seem like targets. This is horrible.
Though the poster is meant to seem like a typical missing person's poster, one of the faces of the 240 hostages captured by Hamas is added in brilliant red at the top. Anyone may print the free online posters in more than thirty languages and distribute them. Israeli artists Nitzan Mintz, Dede Bandaid, and Tal Huber—who created these posters—told NPR in a statement that their goal is to draw attention to the innocent people being imprisoned.
Videos of individuals ripping down these posters have gone viral as some, including the artists themselves, consider it as an antisemitic deed.
Lynch disagrees that removing the posters is antisemitic.
Lynch remarked, "these posters don't exist in a vacuum." "I believe they are accentuating the message one was observing, that Israel is entirely justified in what they are doing in Gaza."
Lynch thus tore down a poster she came upon on her walk home on November 2.
What was going through my mind at this point was that this Olivia Lynch Brooklyn Posters is justifying the destruction of Gaza because of these hostages," Lynch added.
Lynch was photographed doing this, and by the morning the internet had a video showing her demolishing the poster. Instagram pages like @JewsHateDatabase uploaded the footage under the statement "Help us find out who she is — Jew hater spotted in Williamsburg Brooklyn."
NPR asked the creators of the page several times for a comment, but has not heard anything.
Lynch received hundreds of letters loaded with death threats, threats of sexual violence, and vows to be let go from her employment teaching at an after-school program called Wild Ferns with less than five staff members.
One email NPR checked said, "I hope you get lynched like your last name suggests." Someone else replied to her, "Hope you get raped by Nazi Hamas and burn in hell." "I will make sure every employer knows who you are," another reads.
The aftermath
Lynch received a call from her boss saying she had been let go days after she tore down the poster.
A few weeks later, she claimed unemployment benefits, contending that she had a right to voice political views outside of the job.
"I thought of it as perhaps a minor act of civil disobedience," Lynch remarked. "It remained peaceful. I was pulling down a piece of provocative misinformation.
How might events like this compromise free speech culture?
While none of these acts — tearing down a poster, doxxing someone or firing someone for misbehavior — are illegal, Aaron Terr, the Director of Public Advocacy at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a nonprofit that works to defend free speech, said that these actions do harm free speech culture in the U.S.
"If Americans believe trip wires are everywhere and they don't know exactly what they can and cannot say, you end up in a scenario where millions of Americans opt out of the national political conversation," Terr said.
Read Also : Where to travel in the US for good food?