Man Takes Hostages at Discovery Channel to Save What's Left of Wildlife

As I'm writing this, there is a hostage situation at Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. Earlier this afternoon, a man entered the building with a gun and two tanks, believed to be explosives, strapped to his back. Most of the employees safely evacuated the building, but there are still hostages inside.

The man was identified as James Lee, who was arrested two years ago for a protest outside the same building. At the time, he also created a website, spent thousands of dollars in local newspaper ads and paid homeless people to join his demonstration. This was all part of his campaign to "Save the Planet: Protest Against the Discovery Channel."

The question on everyone's mind is: Why would he have a beef with the one network that does stories about saving the planet and wildlife?

In his manifesto, Lee says: "Saving the Planet means saving what's left of the non-human Wildlife by decreasing the Human population." In other words, humans are responsible for destroying the planet and causing extinction. The threat of human overpopulation to wildlife is not a new idea, nor is it owned by Lee. Completely respectable organizations like The Center for Biological Diversity and Population Connection have been advocating for population stabilization for decades.

He also wants action and answers to the planet's issues, and it seems like he feels that's where the Discovery Channel has failed. "The world needs TV shows that DEVELOP solutions to the problems that humans are causing, not stupify the people into destroying the world." Apparently, Discovery's "green" shows have not been green enough, they're not doing their part to help wildlife, and they have way too many programs celebrating birth.

Look, Discovery Channel isn't perfect. They have more animal and earth-friendly programming than any other network, but they don't always take the high road, and their decision to give Sarah Palin her own nature reality show was nothing short of absurd.

But as Jess Leber said on the Environment blog: "Here is a lesson in how not to save the planet."

When Lee's message is boiled down to saving the planet, helping wildlife, controlling human overpopulation, and using the power of the media to find solutions, it's not far off. But when it's not distilled, and you get the full manifesto, with all of its ranting hatred and intolerance, and you have a so-called activist putting human lives in jeopardy, suddenly, the real message disappears. News anchors start bandying about "eco-terrorism" and saying things like "he wants people to stop procreating so the animals can take over the planet."

James Lee has put people in danger and he's put the cause in danger.

According to his manifesto and his Myspace page, Lee is a big fan of Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael, which is a philosophical discussion between a man and a gorilla about sustainability. But Lee missed the key part at the end, where Ishmael (the wise gorilla) says, "The story of Genesis must be undone. First, Cain must stop murdering Abel ... You must absolutely and forever relinquish the idea that you know who should live and who should die on this planet."

Let's hope that message gets through today, and this standoff ends without anyone getting harmed.

Update 09/01/10: Around 5 p.m. ET, the gunman was shot by police snipers. All three hostages are safe; Lee's condition is unknown and the building is being searched for explosives.

Update 6 p.m. ET: Police have confirmed that James Lee is dead. It's unfortunate that his misguided passion cost him his life.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons