Discovery Channel Protestor Faces Jail
For the last year, James Lee has been on an unusual mission. The 40-year-old Maryland resident, who was born in San Francisco and lived in Hawaii for several years, has a passion that he has taken to the streets. Although he exhibits the same zeal that one might find in his birthplace at an anti-war rally, Lee has used his energy, time, and money toward environmental issues. Well, kind of. Specifically, Lee has launched a protest against the Discovery Channel because he feels they are not doing enough for the planet, despite airing programs like "Planet Green" and buying the highly-trafficked Web site treehugger.com for $10 million.
"I was watching the programs and noticed that their messages were actually against the environment, so I thought I'd come up with a little plan to sway them into showing programs that would actually help," said Lee.
This plan began with him writing letters to the Discovery Channel, which he said were ignored, and later transformed into a week-long "Save the Planet Protest Against the Discovery Channel" in front of the station's Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters last month. But Lee's demonstration did not go as planned: Despite launching a Web site and taking out advertisements in local newspapers, he was surprised to find that he was the lone protestor when his rally began on February 15. In order to gather a crowd, Lee began paying homeless people $10 an hour to stand with him and then he got carried away and started throwing money onto the sidewalk to attract more participants.
"I was surprised when no one showed up for the protest after I ran all those ads in the paper. It was shocking," Lee said. "One thing just led to another—I had a few guys helping me, then the next thing you know I was hiring the homeless, and the next thing you know, I just couldn't stop myself."
When no one showed up to his protest, James Lee (left) decided to pay local homeless people $10 an hour (right) to stand with him at the Discovery Channel's headquarters.
© Chip Py (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chip_py)
As a result of his admitted lack of self-control, Lee ended up where many protestors have before him—jail. He was arrested on February 21 for littering and disorderly conduct and had just spent about two weeks in jail when he spoke to The Useless Information Superhighway. This Friday, he will represent himself against these charges and is optimistic that he will prevail and avoid a possible 60-day sentence.
Despite his legal woes, Lee said he plans to continue lobbying the Discovery Channel for better programming. He currently is sponsoring the "Save the Planet Essay Contest"—with a grand prize of $200,000 in commercial real estate and $10,000 in cash—in order to find the best idea for a television show designed to save the environment.
Although he is not protesting them, Lee is also strongly opposed to other shows on the Discovery Channel's schedule. He was particularly disturbed by an episode of "Mythbusters" where Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman shot at trees with a machine gun.
"Shooting a tree down with a machine gun, spraying bullets all over the desert just seemed outrageous," he said. "And they're getting away with it on TV. Isn't that littering?"
On his MySpace page, James Lee proclaims
that "It's time for REVOLUTION!!!" to his 136 friends.
Similarly, Lee has a strong opinion about "It Takes a Thief," which gives homeowners information on how to protect themselves and their property.
"What are they doing? They're teaching people how to break into people's homes. Why aren't people suing them for that?," Lee added. "Giving you advice on where to hide a credit card will tell the thieves where to get it. I would be watching it very closely if I was going to rob somebody."
Although Lee was the only one to show up at his protest in February, he is hardly the only one who has had a problem with the Discovery Channel's programming. Last year, the channel received a lot of criticism from religious groups because of James Cameron's "The Last Tomb of Jesus." There have also been online protests and petitions regarding the channel's "Shark Week" and its decision not to air a show about alien hauntings at Roswell.
Sources:
Clarke Jr., John. (2007). 'Jesus' film drawing criticism. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Variety.
Lee, James. (2008, March 14). Personal communication via telephone.
Mathis, Sommer. (2008). Discovery Channel Protester Arrested. Retrieved February 22, 2008 from DCist.
VanderBurgh, Robert. (2006). Protest Against Discovery Channel Decision Not To Air X-Ops. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Free Press Release.
Open Letter to the Discovery Network. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from http://sharkman.mysite.maltanet.net/sharks/discovery.htm.
Save The Planet Protest. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from http://www.savetheplanetprotest.com/.
Related Posts:
Protestor Arrested After Paying Would-Be Participants
Protestors Go Ape for Stolen Monkeys
Semi-Nude Peta Protestors Packaged for Holidays
Fake Media Reality Leads to Real Charges
Going Green or Going Too Far?
Forrest Stump
Man Sent to Jail for Killing 500 Trees
Lawyer Says "Deal or No Deal" Has Pushed Its Legal Luck
"I was watching the programs and noticed that their messages were actually against the environment, so I thought I'd come up with a little plan to sway them into showing programs that would actually help," said Lee.
This plan began with him writing letters to the Discovery Channel, which he said were ignored, and later transformed into a week-long "Save the Planet Protest Against the Discovery Channel" in front of the station's Silver Spring, Maryland headquarters last month. But Lee's demonstration did not go as planned: Despite launching a Web site and taking out advertisements in local newspapers, he was surprised to find that he was the lone protestor when his rally began on February 15. In order to gather a crowd, Lee began paying homeless people $10 an hour to stand with him and then he got carried away and started throwing money onto the sidewalk to attract more participants.
"I was surprised when no one showed up for the protest after I ran all those ads in the paper. It was shocking," Lee said. "One thing just led to another—I had a few guys helping me, then the next thing you know I was hiring the homeless, and the next thing you know, I just couldn't stop myself."
When no one showed up to his protest, James Lee (left) decided to pay local homeless people $10 an hour (right) to stand with him at the Discovery Channel's headquarters.
© Chip Py (http://www.flickr.com/photos/chip_py)
As a result of his admitted lack of self-control, Lee ended up where many protestors have before him—jail. He was arrested on February 21 for littering and disorderly conduct and had just spent about two weeks in jail when he spoke to The Useless Information Superhighway. This Friday, he will represent himself against these charges and is optimistic that he will prevail and avoid a possible 60-day sentence.
Despite his legal woes, Lee said he plans to continue lobbying the Discovery Channel for better programming. He currently is sponsoring the "Save the Planet Essay Contest"—with a grand prize of $200,000 in commercial real estate and $10,000 in cash—in order to find the best idea for a television show designed to save the environment.
Although he is not protesting them, Lee is also strongly opposed to other shows on the Discovery Channel's schedule. He was particularly disturbed by an episode of "Mythbusters" where Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman shot at trees with a machine gun.
"Shooting a tree down with a machine gun, spraying bullets all over the desert just seemed outrageous," he said. "And they're getting away with it on TV. Isn't that littering?"
On his MySpace page, James Lee proclaims
that "It's time for REVOLUTION!!!" to his 136 friends.
Similarly, Lee has a strong opinion about "It Takes a Thief," which gives homeowners information on how to protect themselves and their property.
"What are they doing? They're teaching people how to break into people's homes. Why aren't people suing them for that?," Lee added. "Giving you advice on where to hide a credit card will tell the thieves where to get it. I would be watching it very closely if I was going to rob somebody."
Although Lee was the only one to show up at his protest in February, he is hardly the only one who has had a problem with the Discovery Channel's programming. Last year, the channel received a lot of criticism from religious groups because of James Cameron's "The Last Tomb of Jesus." There have also been online protests and petitions regarding the channel's "Shark Week" and its decision not to air a show about alien hauntings at Roswell.
Sources:
Clarke Jr., John. (2007). 'Jesus' film drawing criticism. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Variety.
Lee, James. (2008, March 14). Personal communication via telephone.
Mathis, Sommer. (2008). Discovery Channel Protester Arrested. Retrieved February 22, 2008 from DCist.
VanderBurgh, Robert. (2006). Protest Against Discovery Channel Decision Not To Air X-Ops. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Free Press Release.
Open Letter to the Discovery Network. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from http://sharkman.mysite.maltanet.net/sharks/discovery.htm.
Save The Planet Protest. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from http://www.savetheplanetprotest.com/.
Related Posts:
Protestor Arrested After Paying Would-Be Participants
Protestors Go Ape for Stolen Monkeys
Semi-Nude Peta Protestors Packaged for Holidays
Fake Media Reality Leads to Real Charges
Going Green or Going Too Far?
Forrest Stump
Man Sent to Jail for Killing 500 Trees
Lawyer Says "Deal or No Deal" Has Pushed Its Legal Luck
Comments