The gunman holding hostages in the Silver Spring, Md., headquarters of the Discovery Channel has been tentatively identified as James Jay Lee, an apparent eco-fascist who thinks that immigrants are breeding "filthy human children" and helping to wreck the planet. Lee, 43, had been arrested in February 2008 at a rally he organized outside the same building to demand the channel help find solutions to the global population explosion and the extinction of many animal species.
Authorities said the man -- who they said they had not positively identified yet -- walked into the building early this afternoon with a gun and what appeared to be explosive canisters attached to his belt. At about 3:15 p.m. Eastern, police said they were negotiating with the man, who was holding "a small number of hostages." They said they knew of no injuries, despite an early unconfirmed report that at least one shot was fired during the incident.
In a list of demands he apparently posted before invading the Discovery building, Lee, whose MySpace page identifies him as a Silver Springs resident, repeatedly spoke of "parasitic human infants" and "unwanted pollution babies" and furiously argued that humans were destroying the planet with pollution, war and overpopulation. But unlike earlier eco-terrorists like Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Lee zeroed in on immigrants as a primary evil. He spoke of "anchor baby filth," a reference to babies born in the United States to undocumented immigrants.
"NO MORE BABIES!" he wrote in his list of demands. "Population growth is a real crisis. Even one child born in the US will use 30 to a thousand times more resources than a Third World child. It's like a couple are having 30 babies even though it's just one. If the US goes in this direction maybe other countries will too!"
The argument that immigration fuels environmental degradation has become increasingly popular in nativist circles. In late July, in fact, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a special report -- "Greenwash: Nativists, Environmentalism & the Hypocrisy of Hate" -- that detailed how right-wing immigration restrictionists were attempting to appeal to environmentalists to join their battle. The report suggested that most of those making such appeals were disingenuous about their interest in the environment and were merely cynically seeking allies.
That doesn't seem to be the case with Lee, who seems to have started out as an environmentalist, but one who became more and more extreme. On his MySpace page, he calls for "REVOLUTION!" and describes himself as an atheist. In his set of demands, he says: "Nothing is more important than saving... Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, Squirrels. The humans? The planet does not need humans."
According to his set of demands, Lee invaded the Discovery building in an attempt to force the network to introduce programming pushing for population control and against warfare that is destructive to the planet.
Instead of blaming "nativist groups" perhaps the Southern Poverty Law Center should declare Al Gore a peddler of hate, and his films a hate- and violence-creating documentary outside the mainstream...
We all understand that the SPLC is in the business of finding "racists" under every rock but it would be nice if the occasional truth slipped in as well.
And what's with that list of animals? "Froggies?" Then some more regular names [Giraffe, Bear...] and then the ender...."And of course...squirrels." I might be overanalyzing, but that is one odd way to list your animal kingdom.
Uh...anyway...first and foremost, this man IS extreme, and I do think the term "eco-terrorist" fits.
But the media and the common speculators are biting like pihranas at this...He holds extreme views regarding environmentalism....an often-left wing ideal...but he's spewing about anchor babies? Didn't the right wing come up with that?
I'm not blaming anyone....he seems to believe in the worst of both worlds, here...but this is just extremely odd. What a nutball.
I am most of all worried about the captives...any rescues? Updates?
This eco-terrorist was a far left wacko looney-bird. I am glad he did not harm any one.
Seriously? Being an atheist makes you *extreme*? What do his religious views have to do with anything?
I really want to know what you'd call someone who's willing to threaten people with death in the name of the environment. To me Eco-terrorist sounds right.