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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.
I'm going to have to call fake. I doubt a real attorney would even bother to answer that email. Plus have you ever seen a lawyer be so concise in their writing?
Is that really the guy's email address? Either way it could be that he just didn't have time for a small website he's never heard of before. The first email he sent to the guy was pretty short. If i was asking for a huge favor, and interview that would bring big hits to my site, I would at liest have drafted a few more lines to the email instead of the short thing.
It could be the guy was just being dismissive to the guy asking for the q&a. Well either way the guy does use gaming as a spring board for publicity and obviously doesnt mind climbing over the back of dead bodies to get his name out there, so I think I can agree that the guy is an ass.
Awesome.
Now we all know which email address to sign up for spam with...
jackpeace@comcast.net
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
He's just Another Ambulance chaser. The only reason this is on /. is because he is blaming video games.
Why post a link to this kind of garbage article?
There's no content to discuss about -- Just a rudely formed 'no comment'.
Bot Assisted Blogging
If you haven't figured out it was fake just by looking at this one "response"...I highly doubt a lawyer would use such incriminating terminology such as "destroying".
However, IANAL, so I may be completely wrong.
Way to alienate te most important part of the equation in your argument. The end users are the people who determine the content of their videogames. By ignoring them, you ignore the most powerful voice for change that you could harness. The companies and retailers that produce, distribute and sell these games do so because the gamers demand a certain product with a certain content. Without a dialogue with the end users, he will never advance his position.
He messed up on the last address:
From: Jack Thompson [jackpeave@comcast.net]
Slipped and hit 'v' instead of 'c', otherwise nice fake
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.
It looks like he's more interested in punishing wrongdoers than ending wrongdoing. Kick-@$$ rather than make good. It does fit the political mood.
>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.
Will somebody PLEASE put this guys theories to the test? Why can't Rockstar put a story arc in the next GTA which has the character bumping off some slimeball ambulance chasing lawyer who's sueing game companies?
Then if nothing happens to this guy, we'll know he's full of shit. And if he does happen to get killed by some video game junkie... well, I'm sure he'll rest in peace knowing that his story was vindicated. We could all chip in and send a big burial wreath saying "We're sorry, you were right!"
I am NOT a man!
I am a free number!
That is socially irresponsible behavior, and can be demonstrated so in a court of law. For someone who is trying to appear socially responsible as he is(and the case is based almost entirely on social responsibility), that would be a foolhardy thing to do.
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.
This guy gets way too much attention, but I guess it's easy when you are the sole voice railing against a multibillion dollar industry for its violence. The rest of the public is busy buying and playing the games he bitches about.
Every time a child (say 17) goes out and murders someone, they quickly go to see what video games he is playing. Well obviousely he plays video games, hes 17 years old! Why people suddenly make the correlation is beyond me. Why not just blame it on the orange he ate that morning? There are so many kids that play violent video games that are just fine, actually way more than 99% I would guess.
It couldn't possibly be bad parenting now could it?