February 22, 2008
Discovery Channel Protester Arrested
James Jay Lee, the man better known only as "Lee", the organizer of a lengthy protest against The Discovery Channel, has been arrested by Montgomery County police. Lee appears to have spent thousands of dollars in advertising his protest plans in publications such as the Express and hiring homeless people to beef up his presence in front of the cable network's Silver Spring headquarters.
WJLA reported that Lee was arrested yesterday on charges of littering and disorderly conduct. The littering charge may have stemmed from Lee reportedly having literally thrown money at people on the street so that they would gather around his protest site on Georgia Ave.
It's hard not to suspect at this point that Lee, 40, is at least to some degree mentally disturbed, so we hope this arrest leads to him getting some help. At the very least, it appears as though he has the financial means to take care of his legal troubles.
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shoot, and i was going to make a run up that way tomorrow to see what the fuss was all about. oh well...
So it really was a protest by a nutcase?
That's disappointing. I kinda hoped it was some sort of "art."
Hmmmmmmmmm...
So glad you noted this. I walked past this on my way home the other day and couldn't figure out what they were protesting.
Nazi-ish Silver Spring = not a good place for a protest.
Other than a couple of rouge elements, Silver Spring is far from Nazi-ish. And this guy's an idiot.
Nazi-ish Silver Spring = not a good place for a protest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
You all, Lee is the only person who is fighting against the evil that is the Discovery Channel! We should be joining him, not locking him up! If we tolerate this, where will it stop? Are children will probably have to endure an entire Shark Month!
Okay! Let's stop talking trash about Lee. He's got a valid point - The Discovery Channel isn't doing everything in its power to PRESERVE the environment. Lee's protest made me think on a broader scale - Television networks just don't care about the Environment, nor do they do anything to help the viewers understand the ecological problems that face humanity today! Least of all with their programs that explore the latest in military weaponry.
Go ahead turn on the News, turn on ESPN, turn on NATGEO, turn on ABC, [...] The Media doesn't care about the world - it cares about your attention. Lee's not an idiot, he's not mentally disturbed, he's extreme in his actions and he got our attention. Let's focus on what he was trying to tell us rather than on his character. The message is powerful.
The unions hire homeless people to make a racket and march around too.
Didn't CNN just do a whole week about the global climate change? With Anderson Cooper? Sure they are oftentimes a fluff network but I think that qualifies as bringing some attention to the matter.
And NBC/MSNBC also did a green week, frequently reminding viewers of the reasons behind it.
I'm just sayin'..
@ logicalexplosion: Yeah, cuz nothing says "I want to make a difference and have a serious concern about saving the environment" by taking out very colorful full page ads (full of toxic ink I'm sure), nearly daily for the last 3 weeks or so in a free newspaper (see: birdcage lining) better known as the WaPo Express. I wonder how many trees were slaughtered for "Lee's" publicity stunt/protest/clusterfuck/literary interpretation/etc.
I drove by there yesterday around noon and there was a large crowd of people standing in a tight group. They were all trying to shoulder each other out of the way to get to the middle. I imagine that's the moment Lee decided to throw the money since he was probably on the verge of being crushed. Or maybe they were just pretending to be Emperor Penguins
Who cares whether or not the discovery channel is doing all it can to preserve the environment? They aren't the Sierra Club, people. In case anyone didn't notice, Discovery is a for-profit company that makes TV shows to entertain people, much like Fox.
So they make TV shows about glaciers and spotted owls instead of TV shows about nuclear attacks from terrorist. Who cares? They're both in it for the money, and at least Discovery can't be accused of fearmongering. Must they also be Mother Theresa to avoid a protest?
Who cares whether or not the discovery channel is doing all it can to preserve the environment? They aren't the Sierra Club, people. In case anyone didn't notice, Discovery is a for-profit company that makes TV shows to entertain people, much like Fox.
So they make TV shows about glaciers and spotted owls instead of TV shows about nuclear attacks from terrorist. Who cares? They're both in it for the money, and at least Discovery can't be accused of fearmongering. Must they also be Mother Theresa to avoid a protest?
A few nuggets:
-WJLA is reporting that he is spending his inheritance money
-I see this group every single day, and I am yet to see anyone shouting anything, holding up signs, or even walking around. It was obvious even before reports of paying people to join that the protestors were wildly disinterested in their cause. They are just huddled up in a large circle. Flapjack is exactly right--they look like emperor penguins (which I only know about because of Discovery's Planet Earth series).
-The only sign I've seen during the whole "protest" was held by Lee himself on the first day. He was standing all by himself and holding a sign that read "Save the Earth Discovery Channel," so it wasn't even clear if he was for or against the network.
Bottom line: Worst. Protest. Ever.
A few nuggets:
-WJLA is reporting that he is spending his inheritance money
-I see this group every single day, and I am yet to see anyone shouting anything, holding up signs, or even walking around. It was obvious even before reports of paying people to join that the protestors were wildly disinterested in their cause. They are just huddled up in a large circle. Flapjack is exactly right--they look like emperor penguins (which I only know about because of Discovery's Planet Earth series).
-The only sign I've seen during the whole "protest" was held by Lee himself on the first day. He was standing all by himself and holding a sign that read "Save the Earth Discovery Channel," so it wasn't even clear if he was for or against the network.
Bottom line: Worst. Protest. Ever.
A few nuggets:
-WJLA is reporting that he is spending his inheritance money
-I see this group every single day, and I am yet to see anyone shouting anything, holding up signs, or even walking around. It was obvious even before reports of paying people to join that the protestors were wildly disinterested in their cause. They are just huddled up in a large circle. Flapjack is exactly right--they look like emperor penguins (which I only know about because of Discovery's Planet Earth series).
-The only sign I've seen during the whole "protest" was held by Lee himself on the first day. He was standing all by himself and holding a sign that read "Save the Earth Discovery Channel," so it wasn't even clear if he was for or against the network.
Bottom line: Worst. Protest. Ever.
More nuggets, anyone?
(sorry)
Rukasu - I agree that the ads were over the top, but also consider that the pages would have been filled with something else, so there's no way to argue that his ads produced more toxicity than a "normal" issue of WaPo Express. What's a clusterfuck?
Heyitsgarrett - I applaud networks when they do provide coverage of environmental issues. We need to hear it more often though, every day.
Flapjack - Now that's frightening. Can anyone confirm that he was throwing money at the crowd, because that sort of thing can start a riot. Defiantly not the way to conduct a civil protest.
Thanks for the comments everyone!
"-WJLA is reporting that he is spending his inheritance money"
Pfft...Chris McCandless wannabe
"-WJLA is reporting that he is spending his inheritance money"
Pfft...Chris McCandless wannabe
Rukasu - I agree that the ads were over the top, but also consider that the pages would have been filled with something else, so there's no way to argue that his ads produced more toxicity than a "normal" issue of WaPo Express. What's a clusterfuck?
Heyitsgarrett - I applaud networks when they do provide coverage of environmental issues. We need to hear it more often though, every day.
Flapjack - Now that's frightening. Can anyone confirm that he was throwing money at the crowd, because that sort of thing can start a riot. Defiantly not the way to conduct a civil protest.
Thanks for the comments everyone!
Gotta agree with Jamie on this one. Discovery is a for profit company whose goal is entertainment not necessarily saving the planet. Besides they do offer green programming on their Discovery Home Channel every Monday and they air green tips all week during program breaks.
Having lived the green life for over 20years and for longer than its been in vogue, I am really getting green fatigue from people trying to push it down our throats.
Industry will go green if they see it as beneficial to their bottom line. Look at the evil empire - WalMart's green initiatives. You know that there are big bucks to be made when they join the chorus which they have.
@ logicalexplosion: You're absolutely right! Something else would have taken its palce, maybe an ad for egg donors or perhaps a latex sale at The Pleasure Place...the world may never know. What I do know is that the money spent and paper/ink used, was by someone claiming to be a fierce environmentalist bitching about how a TV channel is destroying the environment when he himself certainly isn't helping. It is called hipocracy and I feel dumber for spending this much time trying to explain it to you.
The Pleasure Place rules. Especially the little Happy Ending Room in the back.
This guy needs help, either he's gone mad or he's a complete moron.
I agree with mommyworks:
The "Green" movement is great and all, but please people back off. Start doing something or stop yelling at me to do it for you. I work for an architecture non-profit and if I hear how badly we need to push sustainability one more time I might go as nuts as Mr. Lee.
You want to help save the world? Radically change your life so that others can see your example and learn from it. Don't just spew out facts you heard from Al Gore and expect me to immediately swear off coal, gas and other fossil fuels (incase you hate me at this point, note I walk from Crystal City to my job on 17th and F ST., NW each day to save on gas and do a small apart to help). Also, it doesn't matter how many light bulbs you turn off or how many miles per gallon your car gets... the built environment (disgustingly huge McMansions all across America for 2 person households for instance) contributes nearly 45% of the carbon footprint of our country. If you lived in your hummer you would be more environmentally friendly than any of the starts that park their Prius in the garage of their 10,000 square foot bachelor/bachelorette pad.
"The unions hire homeless people to make a racket and march around too."
I believe it's only one union that does this.
Someone managed to get the money throwing on video.