Via Ed Morrissey at Hot Air is the story of a liberal social activist who became an informant for the FBI and helped stop a plot to make (and presumably use) firebombs during the Republican National Convention in September.

From the Statesman:

In a federal courtroom in Minneapolis this month, the public transformation of Brandon Darby of Austin will become complete.

In four years, he has gone from a never-trust-the-government activist to the confidential informant who helped the FBI arrest two Austin men on suspicion of building firebombs during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September.

The reaction of this news from some of his former activists?  To call him a traitor to their cause.  What?  Were you expecting something else?

“Everyone that knew Brandon has gone through a whole range of emotions. Clearly, he’s betrayed the trust of the community, and all the communities he’s worked with,” said Lisa Fithian, a social-justice activist who worked with Darby in Austin.

Heh.  A guy tries to stop violence from being committed and he’s betrayed the community?  I assume Fithian enjoys committing acts of violence to emphasize her point.  The comment shows that she just doesn’t get it.  If stopping violence is betrayal, well, we can take all the betrayal we can get from members of such a community.

But after helping out during Hurricane Katrina, where he developed his attitudes toward government and law enforcement, Darby found out what he was getting in to.

But he said that while working there, he concluded that some activists seemed more intent on promoting radical agendas than helping people.

As for why he got involved with the FBI, Darby said it was because he discovered that people he knew were planning violence.

“Somebody had asked me to do something that would’ve resulted in hurting people, and I said no,” he said. “So they started asking other people. At that point, that’s when I went forward and contacted somebody in law enforcement.”

A lot of people who develop similar emotions can be easily taken in by such groups.  We’ve seen it happen a lot in the Middle East, and certainly it can happen in the U.S.  But it does take a strong will and a realization of right and wrong in order to combat such temptation.  And Darby had that.  Of course, he has at least a slightly more life experience than what I’d guess the two guys in the pictures from the article have.  Darby is 32.

So, he should be commended for his work with the FBI.  Violent activism is never good activism in my book.