Slashdot Mirror
Jack Thompson Calls Cops on Penny-Arcade
Anon1001 sent us the latest developments in the ongoing saga between Miami Attorney Jack Thompson and Penny-Arcade. So far the story goes that Jack has filed a wrongful death suit against Rock Star, claiming that GTA is a cop killing training simulator responsible for the murder of a pair of cops. He also
offered $10k to charity if anyone who would develop some ridiculous murder spree game. When someone did it, and he changed his mind and Penny-Arcade donated the cash instead. All of this is being documented on the Penny Arcade website, in phone calls, rants and comics, as well as an 'I Hate Jack Thompson' T-Shirt. (Note, Slashdot's parent company owns ThinkGeek).
He has now
called the cops claiming harassment. Update: 10/18 17:40 GMT by Z : It seems like this confrontation has been brewing all summer. The most recent altercation is just another link in the chain made by Thompson's reaction to Hot Coffee and his crusade against the Sims 2. Further, PA has put up the scan of the letter to the cops, and a photo of the check.
It seems that most of his quotes seem to deride the geek community, particularly gamers, as somehow not being as intelligent as he is. I'm not surprised at all that he's gotten this kind of backlash, particularly from a group that typically doesn't like to let an issued a challenge go ignored.
I'm also surprised that he hasn't been more thoroughly bashed by Penny Arcade. I would have expected some sort of Fruit F*cker episode gone wrong.
"No fair, you changed the outcome by measuring it!" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
"This is exactly what blowhards like Jack Thompson deserve: to be publicly lampooned for their ridiculous actions."
This is exactly what the constitution guarrentees me, you, and everyone else the right to do. Whether or not they deserve it, it's certainly within my constitutional rights. See Jerry Falwell for relevant details.
Quoth the jackass: "I look forward to working with your fine Police Department to shut this little extortion factory down and/or arrest some of its employees."
Extortion factory? That's not a stated opinion, that's stating a (supposed) fact. Better get your own law team together, because libel's a bitch. I'd like to see how many lawyers it will take to get Jack off.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Jack uses a Cyberstalker law in Florida to threaten people who email him. Basically he cussess them out then ends it with "and don't email me back", and when they reply, he says they're harrassing him and to stop or he'll call it Cyberstalking.
Of course, like everything Jacko does, it's never gotten to court. If he actually let it get to a court of law he'd be thrown out forcibly.
Sounds like an Elliot Spitzer wannabe. For those that don't know, Spitzer is New York's attorney general who is known for shaking down corporations in the name of "fighting corruption". He started out with noble goals, but soon let the power go to his head.
It's not an act -- the guy is actually loony. (Or at least, he has an extremely active imagination.) Here are some other famous outbursts by him.
One example: in 1988, he ran against Janet Reno for DA of Dade County:
Thompson's unique campaign message was that Reno was unfit for the job because, as a closeted lesbian with a drinking problem, she was great candidate for blackmail by the criminal element. Jack never explained why this remained a threat even after he exposed her "secret." Reno cruised at the polls.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
... the crazier Jack Thompson seems to be. Apparently he ran against Janet Reno for the Office of Dade County State Attorney back in 88. He made some pretty ridiculous claims, including that Janet Reno uses call girls. He's also gotten in an e-mail flamewar with a 14-year old, and his quips make the youngster look like Socrates by comparison.
I hope if the mainstream media begins to give Jack Thompson air time, since he is fast becoming a "celebrity", these past deeds are brought up. To ignore them does not accurately portray his real character.
- shadowmatter
I disagree. I don't think Thompson wants to be a politcian. I think he justs wants to be rich; well, richer.
Think about it: He creates all this media hoo-ha, and finally brings a case against a game company, most likely Rockstar and their partners. He brings this case for, oooh, say, the family of a kid who got gunned down by some nutbar who happened to own a playstation. (And probably access to lethal weapons, along with the experience to use them. But forget about that. It's definitely the playstation's fault, right?)
Let's say he wins the case.
He'll get a cut of the money.(Which will probably be vast, thanks to punitive damages.) But more to the point, it'll be a landmark. Precedent will be set. Jack Thompson's name will be attached to the case.
Then the first lawyer people think to call in on similar cases will be 'You know, that video game guy, what's his name? Tom Jackson or something?'
With precedent set, it'll be much easier to win these future cases. Jack Thompson keeps getting a cut of the money from every case he wins, as well as the lucrative talk show spots and inevitable quango* posts.
All he has to do is one case, and he's a millionaire a number of times over. That's his motivation, as far as I'm concerned.
*quango: QUAsi Non Governmental Organisation, an organisation employed by the government, but not officially a lawmaking body. Like a think tank.
Shit man, be careful - there's a new law on the books in Florida that ensures a Floridian with a permit to carry a concealed weapon even more leeway in the right to use deadly force if they feel threatened.
"I guess Jay Leno is going to be there (at the ESA convention, where their friend Robert will be presenting the $10k check)".
Dear God and Jesus,
My name is Jayhawk88, but then you already know that. I know I haven't been the best person in the world, and I don't go to church very much, but if you could see to it that this Jack Thompson v. PA feud receives national media attention, I promise to be a good Christian from now on. I will give to the needy, love my fellow man, and praise your name if you will give me Jerry Holkins debating Jack Thompson on The O'Reilly Factor.
I once read somewhere that people who really get upset over the possible abuses of things such as these games (for child porn, etc) are really "closet" about it themselves?
My question is that - if the terms of the "offer" could not even be met... since it was claimed to be a satire.
When exactly would Jack be obligated to donate to the charity?
To rephrase... why did he even bring it up if he had no intention of donating?
The guys as PA called it right... and quite frankly they just revealed he's playing his game... but in their house.
If only we had more AG's like Eliot Spitzer! He's one of the only AG's in the country to take on corporate corruption; most notably the Wall Street gangs.
I haven't followed his career lately; got any "power go to his head" links?
damaged by dogma
Ooo! Ooo! I'm one. I'll try to answer.
ranting about games and sex causing social decline
Oh wait. No, I don't buy that line. Uberconservative Republican hacks like Senator Hillary Clinton might want our tax dollars to investigate violence and sex in games, but I'm one conservative who does NOT. LESS governmenting spending on this bullshit.
"Yeah! I mean, do you know what's happened to rates of violent youth crime and teen pregancny in the last ten years?" They always answer that they're at unprecedented levels
Hmmm. Maybe I'm NOT conservative, because I don't believe that either. It's the George Bush cronies and conservative right-wing nuts like Senator Clinton, Howard Dean, and John Kerry who have recently been found playing up false numbers for activities that we generally frown upon as being measures of moral decay in our society. No, Republicans, screw you, I'm not buying into that line.
and then are thrown off when I tell them that they've actually been falling quite steadily.
Amen brother. And what's been happening for the last 10-15 years? Unprecedented prosperity, even when you consider the recession a few years ago. Crime rates almost always drop when people are making more money.
Teen pregancy is even at its lowest rate since we began taking statistics in the '40s, down from the all-time high in 1991.
Go go gadget condoms!
What would be really amusing to me is if they discovered, in 20 years, that untold psychological damage to children was done by The Sims. People spending all day running households like gods, torturing and killing families and developing these horribly twisted personalities. I mean, take a horribly violent, depraved movie -- for example, Saw, and ask what game the creators would probably enjoy playing?
uhhh.. The Sims 2 is actually on the list of morally reprehensible games that Jack is crusading against. Seriously.
"I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
The guy article says this guy welched on a verbal contract where he offered to give $10K to charity (still waiting apparently) if someone developed a game involving pissing on people and killing game store clerks. Apparently the game was made, because Penny Arcade stepped up and paid off the charity reward, which is part of this "harrassment".
So what ever happened to the game?
Many years ago, we (Meow Media, Inc - parent company of Persian Kitty's Adult Links) were sued by Jack Thompson in what later became a landmark sixth circuit court of appeals first amendment case. Granted, we were vindicated after two years of legal expenses... but it still cost us several hundred thousand dollars in attorney fees, expert witness fees, and appeals fees (which required a second set of attorneys).
While Jack Thompson's lawsuit was grinding its way through the court of appeals, another copy-cat attorney by the name of John DeCamp decided to sue us (Meow Media) for the Columbine shootings!
Soon, every attorney with expensive car payments was jumping on the bandwagon, in [what I perceive as] an effort to collect a "nusiance" settlement from us and other defendants. In fact, this practice became so common and popular that PBS FrontLine ran a feature story on our collective plights.
Fortunately, when the Court of Appeals ruled in our favor on the Paducah lawsuit (and reaffirmed this when they rejected the appeal for reconsideration), the other defendants were quick to drop their lawsuits, else face an action sounding in tort. However, that too required attorney fees and retainers for each case, in each particular venue.
For those of you who have not yet gone through lengthy and cumbersome litigation... there is not much you can do to recover the costs involved with defending yourself from most tort litigation. Sure, we could turn around and sue the families of the deceased children who were killed by the shooter... but that's not exactly good publicity, nor does it make for a sympathetic jury.
So here I sit today, a few hundred thousand dollars poorer, watching history repeat itself.