The cracks are starting to show, my friends. As I write this, James Lee is holding hostages in the Discovery Channel building in Silver Springs, MD. In his manifesto/list of demands, he focuses on the overpopulation of the planet, the glorification of war in media, and the destruction of the environment. He quotes and references Daniel Quinn’s “Ishmael”, and the main theme of his “manifesto” is that the human species is destroying the planet, and if we continue breeding and spreading “civilization” at the current rate, we will destroy all life on this planet.
I’m conflicted on this. While one side of me understands that the planet is rapidly becoming overpopulated and if we do not change the way we live, the entire biosphere will not sustain, the other side still has that basic respect for all human life, and the belief that we CAN live in such a way that will be beneficial for all life, human, plant and animal alike.
Yet I understand James Lee’s frustration. I understand how maddening it can be to watch the apathy of the masses and watch the misinformation spewing from the mass media. I understand and empathize with his use of radical tactics to broadcast his message, although I do not necessarily support his taking of innocent civilians hostage. I understand that burning desire to smack society upside the head and tell them to wake the fuck up before its too late.
Its getting to that point in our world where the pot is starting to boil over, where the façade of moronic concepts like the American Dream are starting to fracture and crack. With the internet and new media providing unprecedented transparency into the inner workings of government, business and society, many individuals are at a loss as to how do deal with this information.
I think James Lee in many ways is a casualty of the explosion in information we’ve seen over the past couple decades. I’ve been in his shoes, frustrated to the point where I had to do something about it. I took a different path, resorting to non-violent street protests and various forms of non-violent direct action against corporate and military structures. But many of the ideas he put forth in his manifesto echo some of my own. He’s obviously well-read, passionate, and highly motivated to change the world, and while I may disagree on his tactics and methods of educating the populace, while I may disagree that we need to stop having babies in order to save the planet, I do very strongly agree that we as human beings need to take a step back and re-evaluate our relationship with the planet, the biosphere, and each other or we will not sustain as a species.
With the incredible amount of coverage this story is getting, with the internet providing insight into his ideology, I think that this could very well be a catalyst for other individuals to start expressing similar opinions, hopefully without endangering human life.
James Lee’s ideas are not unique. They have been presented by Darwin, by Daniel Quinn, even appear in more mainstream sources like “The Matrix”, where Mr. Smith describes humanity as a virus that consumes the worlds resources and leaves nothing useful behind.
As I write this, police snipers have taken out James Lee and the hostages have been rescued. The State has acted like it always does, by using force. Whether or not James Lee is still alive is unknown, but somehow I doubt it.
I only hope that we can learn from this situation, understand that we need to start examining the motivations behind incidents such as this one. Awareness, consciousness and the free flow of information are vital to stopping the loss of innocent lives. The more we understand about each other, the more empathy we establish between different individuals, tribes, cultures, the less conflict we will have, and the more we can work together to create a world in which we as a species can live in symbiosis with the planet that sustains us.
