Slashdot Mirror
Manhunt Murder Attorney Speaks
An anonymous reader writes "Kotaku has an exclusive interview with game hating attorney Jack Thompson -- sort of. Actually it's a pretty funny, and telling, email back and forth between Kotaku's editor and Thompson that seems to reflect his disdain for gamers. Love the kicker - what an ass." The pleasant Mr. Thompson has been discussed previously on the site.
This isn't surprising. His audience are the Mom's out there who have no grasp on technology and believe everything they see on the Today Show. His mechanism is putting fear into people who should no better but don't bother taking the time to learn about the issues themselves.
Ignorance is the Agent of Fear; Fear Is the Agent of Violence - >1
Hey there,
It's Brian D. Crecente, editor for Kotaku and RedAssedBaboon and reporter for the Rocky Mountain News.
Couple of things on the post about Thompson:
1. His email address is very public and listed on his webpage.
2. I didn't fake it.
3. I doubt someone else is using his email address, but I suppose an underling could be.
4. I've been a police reporter for 10 years and a gaming writer for five, and I always send out very short email requests for interviews. People don't have time for long messages.
That probably don't convince anyone, but maybe it answers some questions. Feel free to email me if you have any others at Brian@kotaku.com or swing by redassedbaboon and chat with me there.
I did some digging on this guy a while ago. I shot him an e-mail that I thought was fairly well worded and I tried to be polite.
His response:
"Could you try to go to hell a little quieter"
I'm not making this up.
>Way to alienate te most important part of the equation in your argument.
This is a lawyer. The most important part of the equation is the law, not the end users. (some may say that its publicity or money, but its still not the end users)
His last email is painfully obvious, he doesn't care about gamers, why should he?
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Do a google and you'll find others who have emailed this guy. Here's an example:
example Look for post #16
I'm figuring the exchange is real.
My other Slashdot ID is much lower.
For a normal professional, respectable lawyer, you might be right. But you clearly haven't met Jack Thompson, who loves to talk about destroying his targets. From this GameDaily interview:
GD: What is the ultimate goal here?
Thompson: To destroy Rockstar.
GD: What does that mean in terms of...
Thompson: (cutting in) So they don't exist anymore.
GD: How are you going to seek to do that?
Thompson: By taking all their money. It's very simple. You wipe someone out economically, they don't have any assets and therefore they cease to exist.
GD: You think one lawsuit can do this or do you see yourself filing some suits against Rockstar in the U.S.?
Thompson: There have been dozens of murders that have been tied to their products throughout the world, so it's just a matter of piling on, and we will do that. These people will not stop, they will not stop marketing the games to children and therefore since they will not listen to reason, since they won't even communicate with me and others, we will destroy them, it's that simple. David didn't reason with Goliath, he killed him.
I only hope that the man's absurd ranting and grandstanding will help those outside of the gaming world to see how ridiculous he really is.
People are saying that this is fake. But based on other email comments I have seen from Jack Thompson, this is totally keeping in line with his responces.
In a thread on a videogame forum there are people who claim that they have emailed Thompson and got such pithy responces as: "the rubbish is up your cranium, take it out," "you're biased against lawyers. grow a brain," "No, actually it's all about ignorant gamers," "You don't know my motives, so don't try guessing," and "children are allowed to buy them. do your research, junior."
In another email exchange I've found, he basically says, that he would rather sue videogame companies than have laws passed.
Finally, Thompson is also famous for being the lawyer behind the Two Live Crew obsenity trials, , and most bizarly, claiming that Janet Reno was unfit for office in Florida because she was gay and people would blackmail her because of it (except by making a public deal of it, wouldn't that make it impossible to blackmail her) which resulted in Reno getting a restraining order against him.
In short, Jack Thompson is certainly 100% capable of the odd responces stated in the article. There is actually lots more odd things that this lawyer has done. Do a search for "jack Thompson" and videogames and tons of stuff will come up about him.
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
This summer we had a media frenzy when it was discovered that someone who played Manhunt had murdered a 17 (IIRC) year old boy. Funnily enough, not one of those sensationalist media outlets followed the sorry up when days later the police revealed that the VICTUM played manhunt, not the killer. If I really thought videogames influenced real life, I'd buy the new Leasuresuit Larry game in a second.