It's a little strange hearing about an 'environmental activist' taking hostages. As you've heard by now, James Lee has been shot dead by police and the hostages he took at the Discovery headquarters are all safe. 

The first critical thing to point out is that no reputable, legitimate, or sanctioned environmental group would ever condone the taking of hostages, or the use of violence in the furthering of their cause. 

My worry of course is that I identify as an environmental activist. Hell, we're called 'Environmental Action'. It's only a few letters off. Sadly, the media is portraying this man who was obviously mentally unstable, as an environmentalist. 

Remember when the guy in Austin flew his plane into the IRS building? There was a lot of talk at the time that his rhetoric could be taken off a Tea Party website, and now the same things will be said about this incident. 

This is a dangerous path. We need to be careful of fiery rhetoric, we need to watch out for dangerous and deadly speech that would or could incite people looking for a cause to participate in horrific ways nobody could fathom. 

The bottom line of course is that organizations, parties, and movements all need to do their best to remember that in a democracy, the best part is that everyone is welcome to participate, and beyond being welcome, has a right to do so.